attachments, not from the aspect of His Divine Essence. Just as Time (Dahr) has never ceased to be in its state as it is, and the qualities and descriptions it is described by return to their respective lords, the same applies to the Creator. He has never ceased to be as He is. The descriptions and qualities He is described by, and the types and parables He is represented by, do not relate to Him at all; rather, they all return to their respective lords. The Creator (Glory be to Him) is the Creator of temporal duration and the appointed term of everything, and He is transcendent above every likeness, according to the saying of the Exalted: {And His is the highest attribute in the heavens and the earth, and He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise} (Ar-Rum 27).

The "Attribute" (Mathal) is the "Quality" (Sifa), and the "Highest" is the "Best." This means the Essence—which is the quality through which we see Him in the heaven and the earth—referred to by the saying of the Exalted: {And He is the one who is God in the heaven and God in the earth} (Az-Zukhruf 84) is the Divine Essence which transcends the celestial luminous attributes and the terrestrial human attributes.

If it is asked: How can the Inward be Outward and how can the Outward be Inward?

We say: He—the Exalted—has never departed from His Being, even if He appeared to the sight. If Manifestation (Zuhur) and