is no pathway to this region, and longing hath no dwelling here; wherefore
is it said, “Love is a veil betwixt the lover and the beloved.” Here love
becometh an obstruction and a barrier, and all else save Him is but a
curtain. The wise Saná’í hath written:

Never the covetous heart shall come to the stealer of hearts,
Never the shrouded soul unite with beauty’s rose.

For this is the realm of Absolute Command and is free of all the
attributes of earth.

The exalted dwellers in this mansion do wield divine authority in the
court of rapture, with utter gladness, and they do bear a kingly sceptre.
On the high seats of justice, they issue their commands, and they send
down gifts according to each man’s deserving. Those who drink of this cup
abide in the high bowers of splendor above the Throne of the Ancient of
Days, and they sit in the Empyrean of Might within the Lofty Pavilion:
“Naught shall they know of sun or piercing cold.”(124)

Herein the high heavens are in no conflict with the lowly earth, nor do
they seek to excel it, for this is the land of mercy, not the realm of
distinction. Albeit at every moment these souls appear in a new office,
yet their condition is ever the same. Wherefore of this realm it is
written, “No work withholdeth Him from another.”(125) And of another state
it is said: “Every day doth some new work employ Him.”(126) This is the
food whose savor changeth not, whose color altereth not. If thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt verily chant this verse: “I turn my face to Him Who
hath created the Heavens and the earth ... I am not one of those who add
gods to God.”(127) “And thus did we show Abraham the Kingdom of the
Heavens and of the Earth, that He might be established in knowledge.”(128)