The proof that by the outward of things one infers their inward, is that if you see the form of the fig [and it is its outward], you know that it is sweet in taste. What indicated to you that it is sweet is its secondary form [present] with you, which is its outward.

Do you not see that if you see its outward is green, then you touch it and find it soft, you know that it is ripe and that its inside is red? Only its outward indicated that to you.

Likewise, the Myrobalan (al-Ihlilaj): if you see it, you know that it is bitter because of its form established with you. And if you had never seen the fig nor the Myrobalan, you would not know the sweetness of this one from the bitterness of that one until you partook of them with the sense of taste.

Likewise, you do not know the ripe fig from the unripe one until you take it with the sense of touch. So the touching of its outward indicates to you its inward: that it is red not white, and that it is sweet not acrid. The first thing that falls upon existing things is the sense of sight, and it perceives the outward aspects of things. This is a sufficient statement, if Allah wills.