Abu Hanifa said: "Then what is it, and from what is it [made]?"

Our Master—may His Might be exalted—replied: "As for what it is: it is a perfect Light, all-radiant and all-encompassing; containing [all] but not contained, a totality that is not partitioned. As for from what it is: it is a Substance (Jawhar) that has no peer that it should be [derived] from it, nor a likeness that it should be as it; subsisting by its essence, and inaccessible through its attributes."

Abu Hanifa asked: "Was there a time before it that preceded it?"

Our Master—may His Might be exalted—replied: "Through it, the ages were known, and from it, the movements of times began."

Abu Hanifa asked: "Can 'being' (al-Kawn) overtake it?"

Our Master—may His Might be exalted—replied: "Being is its handiwork, and [all] things are its action."

Abu Hanifa asked: "Can corruption (al-Fasad) affect it?"