does not speak. How could the people of God (ahl Allāh) and their elect say this? (Asfār, 6)
We found the contingent beings (mumkināt) first to be nonexistent, then existent. Thus, we understood that their nonexistence preceded their existence, and that Allah, Glorified is He, existed first, and that the mumkināt did not exist. (Asfār, 7)
The mumkināt are still from the Divine Knowledge (ʿilmī ḥaḍra). Their forms (suwar) have manifested in the mirror of the Real's (al-Ḥaqq) existence (wujūd). The existence of these forms is found only in the consciousness of the fixed entities (aʿyān-i thābita, i.e., the archetypes of beings in Divine Knowledge) as themselves. Do you not see that when you look at your image in a mirror, you think there is a form resembling your own? Upon deeper reflection, you realize that when the light leaves the observer's eye and reaches the shining mirror, due to its solidity it returns to the observer, who sees himself in the place of the mirror, not in the mirror itself. Rather, the mirror causes him to see himself in his own location and in the ḥāl (spiritual state) in which he is. For this reason, when the observer moves away from the mirror, he sees that his image also moves away from the mirror to the same extent.
From the perspective of knowledge, the observer is the existent, and the mirror is in the ruling of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. The rays that leave the eye and return due to the density of the mirror are the perception of affirmation (subūtī idrāk). The turning of (existence) towards the existent in knowledge (i.e., Allah's knowledge of its coming into being) is possible through this perception, while it is in the darkness of nonexistence with respect to itself, not with respect to the Real. With respect to the nisba (relation) to the Real, it is existent (for the Real knows it will exist). This is the meaning of the Shaykh's (Ibn ʿArabī's) saying: "Without doubt, the Real has brought things into being. The things themselves do not possess an existence other than His (everything belongs to the One who is the true Existent and Creator; things are His reflection, for even in nonexistence they exist in His ʿilm (knowledge))." (Asfār, 17)
Even if the mumkināt are infinite, they are non-existent (maʿdūm). They are existents that can be seen under the witnessing of the Real. We cannot attribute vision to existence as a cause, but we can attribute things to a cause (we can ascribe existence to things, not to vision itself). Whether it is non-existent in itself or existent, what can be seen is that which is receptive to the act of seeing. Even if the mumkināt are infinite, they are seen by Allah, Exalted is He. This seeing is not by the relation of knowledge, but rather is of another kind of relation called ruʾya (direct vision), as it is. (Asfār, 25)