Kumayl narrates that Imam Ali (as) was riding his horse and I was riding behind him, and as we were riding I called out to him asking
“Oh Ameeru’l Mu’mineen What is the truth?
Who are you really?”
Imam Ali (as) replied to Kumayl and asked
him, “What have you got to do with the truth?
Kumayl replied, “When you come to the door
of bounties, it is known that you never turn
anyone away.”
So Imam Ali (as) said,
“What sprinkles in you, overflows in me,”
He (as) continued, “The truth is the revelation
of the Splendor of the Divine Majesty without a sign,”
Kumayl said, “I don’t understand what you mean. Tell me more.”
Imam Ali (as) said, “It’s the defacement of the
conjectured through the clearing of the known,”
Kumayl said, “I don’t understand; but
continue telling me what is the truth,”
He (as) said, “It’s the rendering of the veils by the triumph of mystery,”
He said, “Tell me more,”
“It’s the Divine Attraction, but through the
apprehension of the known,”
“Tell me more”
“It’s the light of the morning eternity, that
continues to radiate through the unity of the temples and their disunity”
Kumayl, like the rest of us, didn’t have a clue as to what Ameeru’l Mu’mineen had meant, and it goes to show just how well we really know our beloved Ali ibn Abi Talib (as).
Kumayl just says he (as) continued riding his horse, and I continued riding mine. This is Imam Ali (as) showing us that we will never, not ever, understand who he is and his relationship with Allah.
Kumayl appropriately says that when he lost Ali ibn Abi Talib he lost the secrets of Allah (swt) on earth.