He would have stopped at his statement: "If the Hidden state is Ancient, then all manifestation is contingent," and would not have completed the answer by saying: "Except for His manifestation in the Anza'iyya; for in it, the Lord appeared in Ancientness." By this exception, the Ancientness of the Anza'iyya was validated, while everything else besides it was confirmed as contingent.
The Sheikh (Peace be upon him) further clarified that the Name (al-Ism) is below the Image (al-Surah); for he said: "All manifestation is contingent," then he made the exception: "Except for His manifestation in the Anza'iyya only" 1 .
He [Abu Sa’id] says: "Rather, the Visible Image is the Meaning of Meanings (Ma’na al-Ma’ani), the Lord of the Mathani [the Oft-Repeated], the Ultimate of Ultimates, and the Finality of Finalities."
He says: "The manifestation of the Meaning is as an Absolute One (Ahadan), eternally; He is never doubled in number, and He manifests only through His Essence (Dhat), appearing neither through [a separate] form nor an [external] example. That Image and those manifestations which He made manifest to the observers are He, according to what we have demonstrated in this treatise—that He manifested them to establish Beholding (al-’Iyan), to validate certainty, and to be present and fixed within the Intellect.