(514) It was related from the Nakib Muhammad ibn Sinan — peace be upon him — from our Master — exalted be his glory and [upon him be] pleasure — that he said: "They pass through excrement and transition, and from it they are assigned as beetles and the like. Do you not see that the food of the metamorphosed, like the dung-beetle and others, is like dung? Likewise pigs, chickens, the catfish (al-jirri), and gnats [come] from the dung of people."

(515) Our Master al-Hasan the First — exalted be his glory — was asked regarding the metamorphosed states (al-masukhiyyat), and he said: "It is a revolving cycle in which the people of denial revolve. Among them are those of slaughter, and among them are those who die without slaughter. Among them are the inverted ones, and among them are those who die their death in the wilderness, being wild beasts. Among them are those that die in the sea. There is what is hunted on land and slaughtered, and whose skin and fur are utilized among the beasts. Likewise, there is what is in the sea as fish that are caught and eaten. Among them are those that are raised and grow large in the sea then die their death in the appointed time, like the birds and the beasts in the wilderness. The 'cancelling' (al-faskh) that is cancelled is within humanity; one becomes lame or paralyzed, or a defect reaches him, or something is diminished from his form and limbs. When he is transferred to metamorphosis, he remains likewise within it. If his beauty was changed, or he was blind in humanity, he shall be likewise; or one-eyed, or lame, or other such ailments and defects."

(516) From our Lord al-Mufaddal — peace be upon him — that he said: "Replication (al-naskh) is like that, as it recounts a thing like its thing. 'Cancelling' (al-faskh) is the transformation of a form into another. However, metamorphosis (al-maskh) is an absolute subjugation (tatbis).¹"