It is the light of faith (nur al-iman) by which he traverses this station, just as the Realm of Kingdom (al-mulk) was traversed by the light of Islam; and he traverses the Realm of Compulsion (al-jabarut) by the light of excellence (nur al-ihsan), and the Divine Nature (al-lahut) by the light of gnosis (nur al-'irfan). Knowledge is a light from among the lights of Allah the Exalted, which He casts into the heart of whomever He wills among His servants; it is an intrinsic meaning subsisting in the soul of the servant that acquaints him with the realities of things. Its relationship to insight (al-basirah) is like the light of the sun to eyesight (al-basar), for instance, but rather more complete and noble. Knowledge is also an expression for a reality within the soul that relates to both the non-existent and the existent according to the actual reality upon which it stands, or will stand when it comes into existence; this reality is itself knowledge.

He then said: Thus, knowledge does not relate except to an existent entity, and it does not relate to a non-existent thing fundamentally. For the absolute non-existent cannot be conceived as having knowledge relate to it, because it possesses no form, is not restricted by an attribute, and has no stable reality except absolute negation.