form (1) in the world, whether psychical or corporeal. From it (2) emanate knowledge, volitions, and other things. According to them, it is the lord of everything beneath the sphere of the moon. Yet they do not regard it as independent; rather, its emanation depends upon the existence of the dispositions and receptive substrates produced by the motions (3) of the celestial spheres. Those motions above the sphere of the moon do not proceed from it, but from another. According to them, this intellect is the lord of mankind (4); from it emanate revelation and inspiration. They sometimes call it Gabriel, while at other times they identify Gabriel with the imaginative form subsisting in the Prophet’s soul. All of these claims (5) are among the most utterly false of falsehoods, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

The point here, however, is that they liken the emanation of the Necessary Existent to the emanation of the Active Intellect and that of the sun. This analogy is invalid, for the emanating source in these examples is not independent in its emanation (6). Rather, its emanation depends upon the preparedness and receptivity (7) brought about by another, and their being brought about by another is an act of something other than the emanating source. As for the Lord of the worlds, they concede that He (8) has no partner in emanation and that nothing emanating from Him depends upon the act of another. Rather, He is the Lord of the receptive substrate and what it receives, and the Lord of that which is prepared and that for which it is prepared. From Him come both the preparation and the provision.