Likewise [He manifests] in every race, according to that race, without being grasped, limited, or encompassed; rather, [there is] affirmation, origination, and witnessing—all of which is justice from Him, the Almighty.

Among what confirms the affirmation of the Esoteric (al-Bāṭin) and the contradiction of the Exoteric (al-Ẓāhir) is what he [the author] also established, stating that the table set forth in the book Kitāb al-Marātib wa al-Daraj (The Book of Ranks and Degrees) and in the book Haqā’iq Asrār al-Dīn (The Realities of the Secrets of Religion)—for the purpose of knowing the numbers of the ranks and their people—indicates that all that God Almighty mentioned in His Book of date palms, pomegranates, olives, fasting, prayer, pilgrimage, zakat, jihad, easts, wests, seas, mountains, houses, mosques, hermitages, churches, bees, birds, cattle, and so forth, are Persons (Ashkhāṣ) whom God commanded to be known and obeyed. They are not [literally] palms, pomegranates, mountains, trees, or beasts.

He—Majestic and Exalted is He—is far above placing His obligations in that which is transient, shifting, and decomposing.