[[On the Meaning of Manifestation and Hiddenness]]

And from the saying of the master al-Ṣādiq—His mention is majestic—when a man came to him to ask him about the Meaning [al-Ma‘nā]: "Is it permissible that He resembles His creation?", so he said: "Yes, when He is manifest to His creation like His creation."

And if you say: indeed the light of the Creator which is not limited and not described, and has no likeness, no peer, no example, nor is He a phantom or shadows, nor is He a form or a likeness, and the speaker has no speech regarding Him, and He does not cross his mind; [so] that is when He was before His creation without this form.

And in another place of the "Epistle of the Precious Substance": and the knowing master—His mention is majestic—was asked about the Meaning [al-Ma‘nā]: "Was He before His creation manifest or hidden?", so he said: "He was neither manifest nor hidden; for if He were manifest, to whom did He appear? And if He were hidden, from whom was He concealed?".

And the author of the epistle of "The Rending and the Sewing" said: "Indeed the Meaning [al-Ma‘nā], He is exalted, was and there was no place, no epoch, no time, no movement,