Teaching of Noor Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah (a.s.):
 
"Then Hazar Imam referred to the simile of the river and the ocean. Hazar Imam quoted the ayat "'Innaa lillaahi wa- 'innaaa 'ilayhi raaji-'uunn" (Holy Qur'an 2:156)). Shariati people do not understand this. These are things that must be understood, that according to the Ismaili religion, Allah is the Ocean. Ali, during his life on earth, was the river separated from the Ocean of the Almighty—separated from it and running towards it—overcoming all material resistances and running towards its origin. The haqqiqati people should understand the meaning of this ayat — from a haqqiqati point of view, this ayat means more than all the rest of the Qur'an.
 
Then, of course, Pir Sadardin and others have put forward the doctrine — namely that all mu'mins are small streams starting from the earth and joining the ocean with (via?) the river. These are doctrines of Ismailis. This is perfectly clear. There is nothing new. The perfect mu'min, after death, and Imam should not be separated, which means it is like a river which flows through the earth, stones, rocks, and various obstacles but reaches the ocean carrying with it all kinds of smaller streams. Now all of these have already been made clear by Ismaili writers and thinkers, and sifted and made clear and printed in Iran. These are the doctrines, the true heart of Ismaili religion."
 

Extract from Address by Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah (a.s.) at the Ismailia Association Mission Conference held at Dar-es-Salaam in July 1945