That which lies between hebāʾ and intellect is the universal nafs (nafs, the lower self). Hebāʾ is pure darkness (zulma, darkness), while intellect is pure light (nūr, light). The nafs is like a veil between these two. Now, when neither of these two qualities dominates the insānī (human) subtlety, it becomes balanced and gives each right-holder their due. (Tadbīrāt, 168)
The Throne of the All-Merciful (ʿArsh al-Raḥmān) is the throne that gathers within itself the four existents: nature, hebāʾ, body, and celestial sphere. It is just like a Yemeni lightning flashing in the air for the sake of a mirror.
Then Allah created hebāʾ. The first form to accept the shape of the body is length, width, and depth. In this, nature becomes manifest. Its length arises from intellect; its width from nafs; its depth from the void up to the center. For this reason, these three ḥaqīqa (ḥaqīqa, inner reality) are found in it. Thus, a triangle is formed. This is the universal body. The first form to accept this body is the spherical form, which is the celestial sphere (falak); its name is the Throne (ʿarsh). Allah has established Himself there with the Name al-Raḥmān, in a manner befitting Him, with an istiwāʾ (establishment) whose reality is known only to Him, without anthropomorphism or modality. This is the beginning of the world of composition (terkīb, composition from composite elements). His establishment upon the Throne is from the amāʾ (amāʾ, the cloud of unknowing). This is the Throne of Life and is the sixth hebāʾ-throne. Moreover, it is a relative throne whose existence is only by a nisba (nisba, relation). For this reason, we do not count it among the thrones or within this sea. This sea separates the Real (Ḥaqq) and creation (khalq). It is the veil of majesty between us and Him.
Whoever among us wishes to reach Him must plunge into this sea. First, he attributes the act of the existent and any act arising from the existent to the existent itself. Yet, the act belongs entirely to the One and Subduer (al-Wāḥid, al-Qahhār). He, with that which we have mentioned, intends to reach us by establishing Himself upon the throne (istiwāʾ), and since the word is not literal but metaphorical (ishārī), it is necessary for us to understand His bringing us down to ourselves. Thus, it is said: He brings down and establishes Himself.
Hebāʾ is a dark substance that fills the void by its very essence. Later, the Name of Allah, al-Nūr (the Light), manifested to it, and it became colored by Him, thus losing its characteristic of darkness. Having been brought into existence from nonexistence and colored by this light, it became manifest through this nūr, and with that nūr, it was formed in the image of man. For this reason, the people of God (ahl Allāh) call it the Great Man (insān-i kabīr). Its summary is called the Small Man (insān-i ṣaghīr). For man is such a being that Allah has deposited in him all the realities of the great world. Therefore, although his body is small, he appears on the stage of existence in the form of the world, and the world appears in the form of the Real (Ḥaqq). In that ḥāl (ḥāl, spiritual state), man is in the form of the Real. (Futūḥāt, II, 147; Asfār, 84)
Hebāʾ is the matter within which Allah has unfolded the forms of the world. It is the phoenix called hayūlā (hayūlā, prime matter). (Kāshānī, 45; Jāmiʿ, 104)
Hebāʾ is the detail whose connection and relation with the amāʾiyya (amāʾiyya, the cloud-like rank) level, which is attributed to both the malakūt (malakūt, the spiritual realm), existence (wujūd), and possibility (imkān), is equal. It is the first share from the level of amāʾiyya. This share is called the level of mithāl (mithāl, the imaginal world). It is a movement directed toward the manifestation of will (irāda) and power (qudra). Will and power represent old age and dryness. (Rawḍa, 589)
One of the levels of wujūd (wujūd, existence) is also hebāʾ. Hebāʾ is a notional space within Allah Most High's world, in which He created the world, but which itself has no real existence. The Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, was the first to give this notional space the name hebāʾ.
If you ask, "Explain to us how the existence of this hebāʾ, which is the space of the world, is," we can explain it as follows: Did not Allah Most High create the world? Is not the world the name for everything other than Him? If Allah Most High created hebāʾ within His own nafs (nafs, the lower self), then His nafs would become the locus of the created things. Yet Allah Most High is exalted above this. If He created hebāʾ elsewhere, then that space is within the world.
Thus, what remains is to say: Allah must have created hebāʾ in a notional space without real existence, so that this space remains outside the definition of the world and the Essence (Dhāt) of Allah Most High. Understand this!
Thus, the proof of the sphere of hebāʾ according to the method of the people of intellect and reflection is as follows. According to us, Allah Most High created the world from His own knowledge. The knowledge of Allah is Himself, His own Essence. By "His own knowledge," I mean attributing existence to Allah Most High. For all creatures exist in Allah's ʿilm (ʿilm, knowledge). His knowledge is in reality Himself, and He is His knowledge. For Allah knows, hears, and sees by His Essence.
If you say, "Allah hears with an ear, sees with an eye, and knows with knowledge," we can answer you thus: That knowledge, hearing, and seeing is the Essence of Allah, not something else. Thus, the existence (wujūd) that appears is the creation of the world in their very selves. This is nothing but attributing their wujūd (wujūd, existence) to their own essence. They exist in Allah's knowledge both before and after; in their relation to Him, they are not separate from His knowledge. In their attribution of existence to His knowledge, they are not separate from Allah Most High Himself. (Marātib, 26)