"And indeed, the most perfect realization of Him for the people of elemental mixture consists in negating the outline of imagination (khaṭṭ al-khayāl) that contingently occurs within the illusion concerning His Essence."

Consequently, the negation of the outline of imagination that contingently occurs within the illusion does not mean the negation of the Sublime Essence itself. There is a vast difference between negating what you perceive within a thing, and negating the thing itself. For instance, you may look into a mirror and perceive forms and shapes; yet if you negate those forms and shapes that you perceived within the mirror and you consider them to be fleeting accidents (‘araḍiyyah) that do not belong to the mirror at all, possessing no real existence within it—being rather from the side of the onlooker, not from the side of the mirror—does this mean you have negated the existence of the mirror or denied that your eyes saw it?

Such is the case of the one looking at the witnessed form: he merely perceives a form homogeneous to his own form, a shape resembling his own shape, and states similar to his own states. All of this stems from the side of the onlooker, not from the side of the One looked upon.