He named it Reason and addressed it, saying: 'Who am I?' It replied: 'You are my Originator and my Manifester, and from You I appeared.' Then He said to it: 'Go back,' meaning: appear as if separate from Me, and so it appeared. Then He said: 'Come forward,' meaning: return and be united with Me, and so it was united. Then He spoke to it from Himself and addressed it: 'By My Might and My Majesty, I did not create any creation before you, for there is no "before" for you except Me. I am your source and I am never devoid of you, for you began from the light of My Essence. By you I am called, for you are My secret and My light in My heavens and My earth. Through you I take My right from My creation, and through you I reward whoever knows Me and affirms Me. You are the One who has no likeness, and I am the Unique (al-Ahad), the High, the Great.'"

(22) And by his chain of transmission from our Master al-Sadiq al-Wa'd, may His might be glorified, that he was asked about the Reason. He said: "It is Muhammad. That is because when his Master originated him and his Meaning (Ma'na) brought him forth, He addressed him and communed with him—and addressing only occurs between an addresser and an addressed—so He bestowed upon him His Name by which He is called, and made him His House to which one strives: a Kaaba for those who seek Him, around which those who know Him circumambulate, just as the Most Mighty of speakers said: {In houses which Allah has permitted to be raised and that His name be mentioned therein; there exalt Him within them in the mornings and the evenings, men...} (Al-Nur: 36)."

What is Origination (al-Ikhtira')?

My Master, my lord, and my sheikh Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn al-Hasan narrated from his teachers, may Allah be pleased with them and sanctify their souls, saying: "The Meaning (al-Ma'na), exalted be His majesty, originated the Name from the light of His Essence.