Spring of Knowledge

Excerpt:
Q.9.  Please explain the secrets of the sacred ḥādīth: “I was a hidden treasure, so when I wanted to be recognised, I created the creature”, with respect to the personal world, not with respect to the physical world.
A.9. As long as the spiritual progress of a mu’min is imperfect and his personal world incomplete, with respect to him, God is a hidden treasure for him, but when God wants to enrich him with the everlasting wealth of His recognition and makes him reach the secrets of azal (the Paradicial abode beyond time and space) in the form of the spiritual and intellectual progress of the personal world, then this Divine treasure belongs to him. It should be remembered that the above-mentioned creation is not once only, but it always continues and it is the spiritual and intellectual birth of every Perfect Man (see the saying of Ḥaz̤rat-i ʿĪsā: “He who is not born twice (i.e. first at the level of spirituality, then at the level of the intellect by virtue of receiving the Imām’s deepest ta’wīlī (esoteric) knowledge) cannot enter the heavenly kingdom” (Aḥādīth-i Mathnawī, pp. 46, 194). Thus, you can also call it renewal.

This excerpt has been taken from pages 47 and 48.