Whenever it qualifies itself with an attribute, it is named after those names because of its qualification by it. And the secret (al-sirr) is the divine subtle faculty, and it is the inward dimension of the spirit; so if it descends a degree it becomes a spirit, and if it descends another degree it is named a heart (qalb), and all of them are secrets.

The Sufis say the worlds are three: the World of Kingdom ('alam al-mulk), the World of Dominion ('alam al-malakut), and the World of Compulsion ('alam al-jabarut). The World of Kingdom is the visible world ('alam al-shahadah) perceived by outward sights—manifest to what is manifest. The World of Dominion is the inward dimension of the World of Kingdom, and it is that which is perceived by inward insights—inward to what is inward. The World of Compulsion is the world of the Divine Names that rules over Kingdom and Dominion, and it is that which is perceived by intellects. The soul does not become illuminated and encompass everything in knowledge unless the seeking disciple (al-murid al-talib) reaches the seventh degree, which is the utmost degree of knowledge.

So the first degree is that a human knows what must be known,