Then the First Deity (Exalted be He) is not befitted by any of the intelligible attributes, nor sensory [attributes]1
As for the Intellect: Due to its deserving the name of Formation (Takwin), it is permissible to attribute to it Action (Fi'l) and Intelligible Will 2.
And indeed, the Will from the First Cause is not intelligible, for it is the very essence of this Will which is above the Intellect, from which Perception (Idrak) is necessary. And Perception is what occurs through Intelligible Motion, not through Sensory Motion which belongs to bodies.
Footnotes
1Gnosis (Ma'rifa) relates to attributes, and He (The Almighty), in His Essence (min haythu huwa), attributes do not apply to Him; therefore, knowing Him in His Essence is impossible.Likewise, knowing Him via Psychic Conception (Tasawwur Nafsani) requires that the Sensory mediates between it and the Soul, along with the presence of Imagination and Illusion.Likewise, knowing Him via Intellectual Conception—which is universal and general, without detail—does not befit the Worshipped Meaning. Conception is the mental stage preceding Assent (Tasdiq); whatever is assented to is first conceived, and this does not apply to Him.Nor can He be known through Compound Bodies, because the Necessary of Existence by His Essence is neither a body nor embodied. He is higher and more majestic than to be subject to sensory attributes or attributes for which the Soul or Intellect could be a vessel.
2The Intellect which deserved the name of "Formation" or "Invention": Is the Great Name (Al-Ism al-'Azim) whom the Meaning delegated with Creation and Formation. Thus, Action and Will were attributed to him figuratively and in reality.That Will is above the Formative Intellect because it is the very essence of the Former (Mukawwin); for the Will of the Creator is not other than Him.The Separated Active Intellect (Al-'Aql al-Fa'al al-Mufariq) is intelligent by its essence. Therefore, to perceive (see) its Former, it does not need the mediation of a sensory form. Rather, it knows the Intelligible Form as its Cause and Reason which does not change.It is narrated from the Unitarians that the Great Name is invented from the Will of Motion.It suffices the Gnostic to know the Emanation (Fayd) from the Trickle (Ghayd)—(i.e., to know the Much from the Little).The Universe of the Gate (Kawniyyat al-Bab) is the Luminous Universe, which remains moving by its Radiant Attribute.If the Emanating Motion is established, and the Intellect connects to it—a connection of supply (Madad) and Light—and performs Formation by delegation from its Meaning, it is established that the First Mover is the Simple Soul. It is the Separated Substance.This is the knowledge of Separation from Connection, Motion from Stillness, and the One (Wahid) from the Unique (Ahad).