anyone other than himself. ‘So We ransomed him with a great sacrifice.’ Thus, he who had appeared in human form appeared in the form of a ram. He who is identical to the father appeared in a form, not in the capacity of a son.

‘And He created from it its mate.’

Thus, he married none other than himself.”

Elsewhere, he said:

“He is hidden from every understanding except that of whoever says that the world is His form and His identity.”

He also said:

“Among His most beautiful names is ‘the Most High.’ Above whom, when there is none but Him? Above what, when He is none other than Himself? His exaltedness is intrinsic to Him, and in respect of existence He is identical with all existent beings. Thus, what are called originated beings are exalted in themselves and are nothing other than Him.”

He went on to say:

“He is identical with what is manifest, and identical with what is hidden even as He manifests Himself. There is no one besides Him who sees Him, and no one other than Him who speaks of Him. He is manifest to Himself and hidden from Himself—and He is the one called Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz—and is called by other names of originated beings.”

He went on to say:

“The one who is Most High in Himself possesses the perfection that encompasses all matters of existence and all relations of nonexistence, whether praiseworthy according to custom, reason, and revealed law, or blameworthy according to custom, reason, and revealed law. This belongs exclusively to the one named Allah.”

He also said:

“Do you not see that the Real manifests Himself with the attributes of originated beings? He has stated this about Himself, including attributes of deficiency and blame. Do you not see that the created being manifests itself with the attributes of the Real? From first to last, these are its attributes, just as the attributes of originated beings truly belong to the Real.”

And there are other statements of this kind. For the author of the aforementioned book, Fusūs al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom), and others like him