INTRODUCTION

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Manifest to existence and [visual] witnessing, the Hidden without [being in a] place. He formed place due to the created beings' need for it, and guided them to Him through it. He whom the flickers of conjectures do not contain, and the glances of eyes do not limit. Nor do ages¹and times confine Him, nor do thoughts and places encompass Him. The Creator of motion and stillness, and the Originator of the flowing water.

{Say, "Have you considered: if your water was to become sunken [in the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?"}²

The Establisher of the primal matters (Hayulayat)³ and the forms, the Inventor of the Simple Substance (Al-Jawhar al-Basit) in the Encompassing Sphere.