The Sheikh Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Khasibi—may God ennoble his station—clarified this for us regarding the words of the Almighty: {But when his Lord transfigured to the mountain, He rendered it as dust, and Moses fell unconscious}1. He explained that the mountain is the body of Moses; the Form in which he appeared in humanity was rendered as dust because his body could not remain firm before the light of Divinity when it transfigured to him. Thus the body became dust and did not remain firm to see, while Moses stood by his luminousness without corporeality—a light stripped of its frame.
He indicated by this statement from his discourse—which he transmitted from his men—that the Ancient is the inward of the Mim and its reality invented from the light of the spiritual Essence. This is what he informed did not crumble nor vanish. The originated thing is the body of Moses, which is the mountain that crumbled and fell unconscious; for when the Meaning transfigured in His magnificent Essence, nothing remained firm before His light except that which was necessary. Whoever knows of our sheikh's knowledge what we have known, pondering it and observing it with the eye of insight, understanding the obscurities of his jurisprudence, says as we say by the success of God, and with Him is power and might.
To our sheikh belongs the favor and bounty upon us, for he said: "The Name—exalted be his glory—has an essence composed of two lights, two substances: ancient and originated. The ancient is his inward, which is 'God,' the Majestic Name invented from the light of the Essence of the High, the Great. The originated light is the outward of the Lord Mim, and from it is the soul of the Gate—peace be upon him."
(302) That which we have mentioned is supported by the narration of the reliable sheikh Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jali—may God sanctify his soul—in a section of his epistle titled The Splitting and the Massing. He stated that the Sage—exalted be his glory—was once asked: "O our lord, is the Name ancient or originated?" He replied: "Ancient." It was then said to him: "The Meaning is ancient and the Name is ancient; how then can there be an ancient along with an ancient, making them two ancient beings?"