Sol 5.6

  1. Glory be to Him whose existence is necessary through His very essence—

    for the Essence itself, not for the existence of His creatures.

  2. Existence is necessarily His, in keeping with what befits Him,

    as entailed by His names and attributes.

  3. Existence belongs necessarily to the Lord of Majesty, unconditioned,

    even if it is disclosed through the existence of the beings He brings forth.

  4. Existence belongs necessarily to the Lord of Majesty, sanctified

    above every taint of imperfection amid His radiant glories.

  5. Existence is necessarily His, without any cause

    of His existence or any ground establishing it.

  6. Existence belongs necessarily and absolutely to the Possessor of divinity,

    in His holiness, beyond every limitation.

  7. Existence is necessarily His, self-sufficient in Himself,

    by virtue of His oneness and the rank of His essence.

  8. God necessarily exists, while no possible thing is determinate

    except through its determination among the things He knows.

  9. Nothing beyond the [ḥ-s-q] of His necessity is determinate

    by His necessity among the class of His handiworks.

  10. Effects did not issue by the right of His necessity

    except as indications of His acts of effecting.

  11. To necessitate them would be an originated event; nor can any effect touch

    that in which true necessity is established by its affirmation.

  12. The marks of possibility show necessity belonging to another;

    true necessity is exalted above its causes.

  13. He granted existence to a possible thing of His choosing,

    within the bounds of its cause and the things caused by it.

  14. Absolute oneness is truly His in His essence,

    His subsistence, His necessity, and His attributes.

  15. Pure holiness, in the station of His existence, transcends

    whatever bounds the existence of His inventions.

  16. His existence belongs to the Essence, not to any determining cause,

    whereas their existence is counted among His signs.

  17. His existence is an attribute of the might of His perfection,

    to which all that befits His essence ultimately leads.

  18. His existence negates the contrary of His existence,

    for a thing is apprehended in relation to its contraries.

  19. His existence negates any end to His existence;

    necessity judges the denial of His subsistence impossible.

  20. The existence of what He creates—and its being left uncreated—

    are alike an act or a forbearance among His self-disclosures.

  21. Through the effusion of the rank of existence, poss-

    ibility is conditioned in the bringing-forth of its quiddities.

  22. It is an effusion of choice, neither causally compelled nor

    a natural force acting upon natural things.

  23. What recourse has possibility, whether latent

    or emerging through some of its entailments?

  24. In its poverty, possibility lies beneath His necessity,

    bound by the constraints of what it may admit.

  25. The existence of what can exist comes through His creating,

    and, by His command, is an effect of His choices.

  26. An effusion governed by causation would require a multiplicity

    of eternal beings within the One eternal through His essence.

  27. And refraining without choice belongs to one incapable

    in himself of acting upon the things within his power.

  28. The very condition of possibility bears witness to

    the perfect craftsmanship of a chooser in His handiworks.

  29. The Real’s choice appears in the face of contra-

    diction and opposition among His inventions,

  30. and in the diversity of creation beneath His governance,

    all confined within “Be,” obedient to His decrees.

  31. No receptivity exists within a possible being

    for anything but the Real’s choice of its modes of being.

  32. A single cause may give rise to a single effect;

    it does not require a causal explanation of all its effects.

  33. Unmaking, confirming, directing, and gov-

    ernance are among the signs of the One who chooses.

  34. The differing measures accord with His affairs,

    from the realm of divine omnipotence throughout His presences.

  35. They are a manifestation of wisdom belonging to the Necessary Chooser,

    arising from a power required by the oneness of His essence.

  36. O You whose existence is disclosed as necessary

    in the light of His wisdom and the shade of His attributes;

  37. O You disclosed through divinity as the Necessary One,

    through His manifestation upon His words;

  38. O You disclosed through necessity, governing

    the particulars and universals of what He creates;

  39. O You disclosed through the radiance of His qualities,

    the greatness of His mercy and His blessings;

  40. O You disclosed in the governance of His kingdom

    and in gentleness toward the creature in all its states;

  41. O You disclosed in the scenes of His love

    through His trials among those He draws near;

  42. O You disclosed even in the ease enjoyed by His enemies,

    through the necessity of His wisdom and all it entails;

  43. O You disclosed in the wonders of His workmanship,

    through marvels of perfection in its every particle;

  44. O You disclosed as One in His essence

    and His attributes, however they may be described;

  45. O You whose necessity is disclosed through perfection

    in His act, His essence, and His attributes;

  46. O You whose necessity is disclosed through majesty,

    through His awe and the might of His essence;

  47. O You whose necessity is disclosed through beauty,

    through His tenderness toward those under His lordship;

  48. O You disclosed through the absence of any peer,

    in what is denied of Him and in His relational attributes;

  49. O You disclosed in the ecstasies of His people,

    amid the swimming-grounds of spiritual tastes in His radiant glories;

  50. O You disclosed to minds through His openings

    and the dawning lights of gnosis from His effusions;

  51. O You inwardly disclosed to innermost hearts

    through gifts of sustaining grace from His fragrant breaths;

  52. O You disclosed in the hearts of His witnesses

    through witnessing His might and glorifications;

  53. O You disclosed in the manifestations of His holiness,

    beyond the grasp even of those specially favored by Him;

  54. O You disclosed in the hearts of the know-

    ers through the gifts of direct divine knowledge He bestowed on them;

  55. O You disclosed to intellects through His light,

    inasmuch as He drowned them in the sea of His attributes;

  56. O You disclosed to understandings, which then perceived

    that they apprehend nothing but His glorifications;

  57. O You disclosed absolutely through every praise,

    in His generosity and the all-embracing reach of His honors.

  58. You brought me forth as a sound, rational human being

    and endowed my mind with all its powers of perception:

  59. a servant constrained by necessity, powerless

    in every phase and from every side;

  60. a servant governed by the power of his God,

    poor alike in his stillness and in his movements.

  61. You brought Your servant forth and ordained his allotted share

    in his life in this world and after his death.

  62. Your existence suffices me above that of any being subsisting

    through the existence of Your essence, though its root lies in itself.

  63. It can bring neither harm nor benefit apart from what

    You decree concerning its removal and continuance.

  64. By the honor of Your existence, bring forth lights within

    my heart, and gladden me with the spirit of its life.

  65. O Ever-Living, O Self-Subsisting Sustainer—Your servant is destitute

    of a good life and of good deeds.

Sol 5.6