Rather, He described Himself with these attributes after Formation (Takwin), just as He was seen by the eyes of creatures, so they could use them to infer Him. For the one manifest through them is the Worshipped God, who is transcendent above them. In reality, He is neither First nor Last, nor Manifest nor Inward. No speaker has a say concerning Him, nor is there a limit by which parables are struck for Him. {There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing}.

The Commander of the Faithful said in the Khatba al-Tutunjiyya:

"Every manifest being other than Him is not inward, and every inward being other than Him is not manifest."

Know that these days, months, and years only exist by the existence of created beings. The proof of this is the rising and setting of the sun and its path, which only exists because of the cause of our natural temperament (mizaj), whose origin is from the temperament of darkness. For this reason, the believer does not see his Master except through the attributes by which the disbeliever sees Him, because all bodies are of one element, but spirits are different. From this comes the speed of the believer's response [to divine calls] or its slowness, according to the strength or weakness of the temperament. When the believer rids himself of this mixture (mazja), this dark veil