This is also the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ (the Preserved Tablet): It is the sublime Qur'an, which is in the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ. This is the place from which the books are sent down. It is the first book in which all existents are written. Then, Allah commanded the Pen to write on this Tablet, from what is above the Tablet down to the first existent, all that will occur regarding Allah's majesty (jalāl) and beauty (jamāl), and up to the creation of the souls (arwāḥ) greatly desired for their yearning for Allah's majesty and beauty, and all that is decreed and destined (qadar and qaḍāʾ).
Neither intellect, nor anyone other than the one who is passionately in love with Allah's majesty, nor those who cannot constantly witness Him, can comprehend these matters. Such people are not with themselves even for a moment; they have perished in eternal fanāʾ (annihilation in God), and worship not because Allah commands it, but due to their own right. Those who are over the hearts (qulūb) of those souls (arwāḥ) are our individuals who emerge from the circle of the pole (quṭb).
The Pen continues to write until it is said by the herald of the Truth (al-Ḥaqq), who constantly calls those said to be in Paradise and those in Hell—after death is abolished—to the path of truthfulness (ṣidq): "O people of Paradise, you are eternal; there is no exit from a new, everlasting, and bliss-filled Paradise." "O people of Hell, you are also eternal; there is no exit from a new, fixed, and torment-filled Hell."
The description of the writing between them ends here. After that, it has another ruling. If, in the course of discussion, it is possible for us to mention it, we will do so. If it is not possible for us to explain it, then there is no need to describe it thus. This Tablet is the locus of rational induction. This intellect is like the station (maqām) of Ḥawwāʾ (Eve) in relation to Ādam. Ādam is called nafs (the lower self), because he was created from the breath of the Merciful (al-Raḥmān). Allah breathed into him from the intellect. For He created him as the locus for accepting what is imparted to him and, due to what is written upon him, as a Tablet. There is no contingent existent that emerges from the Pen itself.
The Pen has also been called the inkwell. According to some, it is the nūn. Its nūn is not by way of detail (tafsīl), but by way of summary (ijmāl), by carrying knowledge within itself in the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ. Therefore, detail only appears in the Tablet that is the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ. This summary is the locus of the nafs, while detail is its domain.
The Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ is the universal nafs (kullī nafs) and the spirit (rūḥ) breathed into perfected forms. As explained in the verse, "And [We] joined you in a manner that Allah willed" (cf. al-Insān 76:28), the giving of whatever form He wills to these forms, the creation of the letter hāʾ and the letter hāʾ as a symbol, and the creation from very hidden degrees by this breathing (nafkh) has occurred. It should be known that this nafs is the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ. The Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ is the first existent that is manifested and created when its cause exists. The cause is the First Intellect (ʿaql-i awwal). The First Intellect was brought into being by the divine command. The cause has an aspect that faces Allah, which is distinct from its aspect before existence. In everything that exists in the world, whether the cause is created or not, that aspect is present. It should be known that some causes are created, and some are spiritual and relative. Created causes are like the necessary or actual relationship (nisba) of anything created to something created before it. In this case, it is a cause; otherwise, it is not considered a cause. (Futūḥāt, I, 420)
According to the people of knowledge, the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ is the Universal Nafs. The nafs is that which originates from the intellect and is the first created by its effect. Just as Ḥawwāʾ was to Ādam, so is the nafs to the intellect. Ḥawwāʾ was created from Ādam, married him, and, just as existence multiplied through what was created later, knowledge multiplied through the Pen. Then Allah, the Exalted, created the creatures, arranging them in divine order until their repentance was complete and the creation of the human (insān) appeared, and He created him in the best form. (Futūḥāt, III, 387)
The Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ, which is called the Divine Light (Nūr-i Ilāhī), is nothing but the light of Allah's Essence (Dhāt). The light of His Essence is His own Essence, which cannot be divided or separated. Accordingly, the Lawḥ-i Maḥfūẓ is the Absolute Truth (al-Ḥaqq) called the Universal Nafs. The Absolute Truth is also the absolute creation (khalq) called the Universal Nafs. Thus, the verse "Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an in a well-guarded Tablet" (al-Wāqiʿa 56:77-78) alludes to this meaning. What is meant by the Qur'an is the nobility, grandeur (ʿaẓama), and might (ʿizza) of the one who possesses these, which is the nafs in the Universal Nafs; that is, in the nafs of the perfect human (insān-i kāmil), without indwelling (ḥulūl).
Allah is exalted above indwelling (ḥulūl) and union (ittiḥād). (Insān, II, 7)