We reply: You spoke the truth, yet you have not understood the meaning of manifestation and hiddenness. While hiddenness is indeed nobler [than] 1 manifestation, the Meaning (al-Ma'na), the Exalted, is the Inward (al-Batin), and the Name is the Outward (al-Zahir) through which the Meaning manifests; and the Meaning is nobler—for that reason, hiddenness was nobler than manifestation. Furthermore, the Name is the First, the Last, the Outward, and the Inward.
The meaning of the First is: the first of all existents; the Last is: the last of all endings; the Outward is: he who manifested so that creation may use him as proof for the Essence; and the Inward is: he who became hidden by his own light, and through whom the Essence—which is transcendent above names and attributes—veiled itself.
As for the Originator (al-Bari), the Exalted, He is a First with no last to Him, and a Last with no first to Him. He is an unperceived, unseen Inward, and change cannot affect Him by transitioning Him from one state to another, such that He would be outward and then become inward,