Nuqabāʾ (sing. naqīb, inspectors or overseers) are those who reveal the hidden aspects of the nafs (nafs, the lower self). They are three hundred in number.
Nujabāʾ (sing. najīb, the noble ones) are forty in number. They are occupied with managing the affairs of the people. They exercise authority only concerning others.
Nuqabāʾ (naqībs or inspectors) are twelve in number; their number neither decreases nor increases. They correspond to the number of the twelve zodiacal constellations. Each naqīb knows the particular nujabāʾ and nuqabāʾ of each constellation, the secrets and influences Allah has given to the places they inhabit, and the qualities Allah has bestowed upon the fixed and moving stars that descend and reside there. The fixed stars also have movements and influences upon the constellations. These cannot be perceived by the senses, for such movements become apparent only over thousands of years. Know that Allah has manifested the divine laws through these naqībs. These naqībs possess the power to reveal what the nafs conceals and to know its deceptions. Even Iblīs has been discovered by them; they know things about him that he himself does not know.
They possess such knowledge that, if one of them sees a footprint on the ground, he knows whether it belongs to a wretched (shaqī) or a felicitous (saʿīd) person. They are similar to the scholars of traces and physiognomy in the land of Egypt, those who study footprints. Most of them reveal traces on rocks. When they see a person, they say that this person is the owner of the aforementioned trace, and it turns out as they say. However, these are not the walī (friends of God). So what do you say about Allah granting this science of traces to these naqībs?
The nujabāʾ, on the other hand, are eight in number. Their number does not increase or decrease. These are such people that, even if they have no preference and are dominated by their spiritual state (ḥāl), the signs of the acceptance of their states manifest upon them. Those above them know this, but those below do not... (Futūḥāt, I, 10; Nabhānī, I, 40)
These are the ones who know eight attributes. Seven of these attributes are well-known; the eighth is perception (idrāk). Their station is the Kursī (the Divine Footstool), as long as they remain among the nujabāʾ.