In the Supplication of Arafa by Imam al-Husayn (peace be upon him), there are remarkable passages concerning human knowledge, the means by which it is attained, the value of each path, and the paths that a rational person should follow - those that are right and lead to the intended goal. He (peace be upon him) says:
1. "My God, I am poor in my riches, how then could I not be poor in poverty? My God, I am ignorant, even in my mind; How, then, could I not be utterly ignorant of my ignorance? ".
2. “My God, I have learned through your various signs and changing states of existence that what you want from me is for you to know me in everything, so that I will not be ignorant of you in anything. ".
3. “My God, wandering among created signs makes me distant from you. So gather me to yourself a way that leads me to you. How can that which itself depends on you for its very existence be used to prove your existence? Can anything other than you hold an expression greater than yourself, so that it itself can reveal you? When are you ever absent that you need proof to vote for you? And when were you ever distant that signs made should be the ones that lead me to you? The blind eye that does not see you while you watch over it, and lost is the deal of a servant to whom you have not given a share in your love. ".
4. "My God, you commanded me to return to the signs of creation. So return me to you clothed in the light of enlightenment and guided by the light of insight, so that I may return to you through them as I entered through them - while keeping my inner secrets from looking at them, and raising my ambition above relying on them."
5. "From you I seek the way to reach you, and through you I seek to know you. So place me long to yourself, and set me up in honest servitude before you. ".
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