(Certainly it is true that) God Most High is hidden if He is sought through the perception of the (five) senses and the treasure house of the imagination, but He is manifest if sought through the treasure house of the mind and its reasoning faculties. You may (object to this and) say, “As for His being hidden in relation to the perception of the senses, that is (quite) obvious; but as for His being manifest in relation to (that which is perceived by) reason, that is abstruse. For (one terms) manifest that about which there is no dispute, that in the perception of which people do not differ. But this is a point on which men have had great doubt. How, then, is it possible for him to be a manifest one?” (At the same time), however, you must realise that He is hidden in spite of his manifestness, in view of the degree of his manifestness. (Or to state the matter in another way), his (very) manifestness is the cause of his hiddenness and his (very) light is the veil of his light, for everything which goes beyond its own limits must (eventually) turn to its opposite. Perhaps you are astonished by this teaching, consider it (quite) remote and will not understand it unless we cite an analogy.

Let me assure you that if you were to consider a single word written by a certain author, from it you would be able to infer that he is learned, capable, and able to hear and see, and you would also reach the position where you were very certain about the existence of these attributes. Indeed, if you saw a written word, (from it) you would attain unmistakable evidence of the existence of its writer who is learned, capable, able to hear and see and, (of course), is alive, and the only evidence (of his being such a person) would be the formation of the single word (in question). Even as this word is unmistakable evidence of the attributes of (its) author, so (also) there is not an atom in the heavens and the earth, not a celestial body, star, sun, moon, animal or vegetation, not a characteristic or anything that is characterised which does not bear witness of its own need for (the) manager who planned it, determined it and endowed it with its particular attributes. Moreover, man cannot contemplate any of his own external or internal members or parts, or any of his attributes or states which pertain to him by necessity and not by his own choice, without finding them to be outspoken witnesses for their Creator, Realiser and Planner.

This same truth applies in respect of everything which he perceives by means of all his senses, whether it be within or without his own person. If (some of) the things differed in respect of the witness (they brought), in that some of them bore witness and others did not, surely certainty would result in respect of all of them. But since the witnesses are so numerous that they have overlapped and (therewith) become indistinct, they have (in fact) become obscure due to (the) excessive clarity. An illustration of this is that the most manifest of (all) things are those which are perceived by the senses, and of these the most manifest of (all) things perceived by sight is the light of the sun which shines upon (worldly) bodies, that light by which everything becomes manifest. If the light of the sun fell upon all the bodies that are manifest to a person and if the sun did not set and so enable him to notice the difference between that which is affected and illuminated by it and between the shaded objects concealed from it, surely it would be impossible for him to know that the light is something of consequence, existing and distinct from the colours; and this in spite of the fact that it is the most manifest of all things; indeed, it is that which makes all things manifest.

(Similarly), if the non-existence or absence of God Most High, the Holy One, from some things were conceivable, certainly the heavens and the earth and everything that would be cut off from His light would perish, and (then) surely the distinction between the two states (of existence and non-existence) would be comprehended. (In such an eventuality – which, of course, is impossible) His existence definitely would be known. But since all things are in agreement in respect of the witness (of Him) and all of the various states are uniformly constant, that is the cause of His being hidden. Praise, then, be to the One who is concealed from mankind by His light, the One who is hidden from them by the degree of His manifestness! He is the Manifest (Aẓ-Ẓāhir), the One (in comparison with whom) there is not one more manifest; and He is the Hidden (Al-Bāṭin), the One (in comparison with whom) there is no one more hidden.