Chapter of Epiphanies and Their Quantities
The Sheikh, may Allah sanctify his spirit, said: This, O brother—may Allah grant you felicity—is a difficult chapter; the Knower (‘Arif) who comprehends it enters into the Truth with a noble entrance. By this section, the few have triumphed over the many. That is because we were shown the genesis of the Epiphanies (al-Tajalliyat) in six categories from which the Light shone, and through which He observed the originated things (al-Muhdathat) with their attributes, and the Creator addressed His creation through their limits. These are the "Six Days" by which the heavens, the earth, and what is between them were created; I mean the Six Times, which are the Epiphanies through the known wisdoms (al-Hikam), as stated by Aristotle—who is Hermes of Hermes (Hermes al-Haramisa) of Great Greece, and the Baron of Alexander—and I am the interpreter of the saying of Daniyatus the First 1 :
The Causer of the original, universal Causes moved the quantities by His will; He moved the letter of stillness (Harf al-Sukun) six movements, which are the six formal causes (al-Asbab al-Naw'iyyat). They are these named things: the Furaj is the pairing (Izdiwaj) 2 of the bearing of His genesis of six indwellings (Hulul). The saying of Aristotle and Daniyatus regarding a [certain] form is as our Masters interpreted it, even if their times preceded them.