As for Primary Matter (al-Hayulā al-Ūlā), it is lower in rank than the Intellect and the Soul due to its distance from the Creator, Majestic and Mighty is He. This is because Matter is a simple, spiritual, intelligible substance that is neither knowing nor active; rather, it is merely receptive to the traces of the Soul across time and separated for it. {Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command} 1 ; thus, the creation (al-khalq) refers to corporeal physical matters, whereas the command (al-amr) refers to spiritual substances."
As for the divine, spiritual matters, their origination takes place all at once (duf'atan wahidatan), ordered and organized, without time, space, or a physical primary matter possessing a material essence. Rather, it occurs by His command: {Be, and it is}. {And Our command is but one, like a glance of the eye} 2 The divine matters are also the Active Intellect, the Universal Soul, the Primary Matter (al-Hayula al-Ula), and the Detached Forms (al-Suwar al-Mujarradah).
Thus, the Intellect is the light of the Creator, the Exalted, and His primary emanation that gushed forth first.