The third facet: Whosoever recognizes his soul through submission [al-'ubudiyyah] recognizes his Lord through lordship [al-rububiyyah]. This is the most equitable witness to His unity—the Most High—due to the soul's proximity to Him, and the most truthful guide that reports, owing to its distance from suspicion. When the soul strips itself of its own claim to autonomous power and strength [hawliha wa-quwwatiha], verifies its utter helplessness regarding the distribution of its benefits and the avoidance of its harms, and realizes that it possesses a Fashioner who governs it and a Sage who disposes of its affairs according to His volition—leaving no room for doubt concerning His existence nor uncertainty regarding His unity—it has surely attained the recognition of its Lord with absolute verification [bi-al-tahqiq], and has submitted to Him by virtue of unwavering confirmation [al-tasdiq].

The lower reality serves as the locus for the attributes of the Higher. Nothing emerges from another thing through division [taqassuman]; rather, everything issues from the shadow of that which is older and prior to it.