The merātib-i kulliyya (comprehensive degrees) are six in number. These are: the degree of Ahadiyya (the station of Divine Oneness), the merātib-i ulūhiyyet (degrees of divinity); the wāḥidiyya (the station of Divine Unity), which is the degree of the Divine Presence; the degree of mujarrad (abstract) spirits; the degree of the world of mithāl (imaginal realm) and malakūt (the spiritual world), which is the degree of nufūs-i āmila (the acting souls); the degree of the world of shahāda (the world of witnessing), which is the degree of mulk (the corporeal world); and the degree of the comprehensive being, the Perfect Human (insān-i kāmil), which is the locus of manifestation (majlā) and the form of the gathering of all things. We have said that there are five loci of manifestation (majlā), but six degrees. This is because the majlā is the place where these degrees become manifest. The essence of Ahadiyya is not the locus of manifestation of anything, for there is no multiplicity there whatsoever. In fact, there is neither knowledge nor the known. For this reason, the degree of the Essence is the principal degree in which the descents (tanazzulāt) of the other degrees are arranged. All the other degrees are either inner or outer loci of manifestation. The locus of manifestation of the degree of Ahadiyya is only the Perfect Human (insān-i kāmil)... (Kāshānī, 82; Jāmī, 97)
The worlds and presences (avālim and ḥaḍarāt) called merātib-i kulliyya are the loci of manifestation and disclosure of the realities (ḥaqīqat) that are ascribed either to the Real (al-Ḥaqq) or to creation, in accordance with their nisba (relation). The aspects of the presences (ḥaḍarāt) ascribed to the Real include divinity, mercy, and necessity of existence; those ascribed to creation include poverty, non-being, and contingency. Those belonging to the Real are by way of origination, knowledge, and will; those belonging to creation come by way of dependence (following the Real, coming after Him). Among all of these, there are realities that are universal, such as the reality of the human being and knowledge, and those that are particular, such as Zayd and his knowledge, as well as those that are essential and accidental, such as speech and life. (Ravza, 586)
It has also been said that there are eight degrees. These are: mulk (the corporeal world), malakūt (the spiritual world), jabarūt (the world of power), aʿyān-i thābita (immutable archetypes), the world of Divine Names, and the world of transcendent attributes (ṣifāt subḥān). That is, wāḥidiyya, the degree of the singularity of the Essence of Ahadiyya. The Real (al-Ḥaqq) is the Essence, the Essence itself, and muṭlaq huwwiyya (absolute ipseity). He is the ultimate goal; nothing beyond Him can be comprehended, apprehended, or seen. It has been said that the eighth degree is the degree of the Divine and universal locus of manifestation. For the eighth degree is the locus of manifestation of the seventh, the seventh of the sixth, and so on, each degree being the locus of manifestation of the one below it. (Jāmī, 97)