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...is removed from Him, as I explained. What we find scripture mentioning — some actions and their opposites, and some actions without their opposite — all of it refers back to this: when He wills to bring a new thing into being, He brings it into existence without any striking or touching.
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In the matter of creation scripture uses both the action and its opposite: 'God made' and 'He rested.' Just as 'God made' is not through motion or exertion but the bringing of a new thing into being, so too 'He rested' is certainly not from motion or exertion but the cessation of bringing new things into being;
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and when it says 'He was refreshed' — that too is nothing more than ceasing creation and innovation.
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In the matter of prophecy scripture says 'The Lord spoke.' The sum of this is that He created a speech and conducted it through the air to the ear of the messenger or the people.
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As for the opposite of speaking — scripture uses: 'I have kept still from eternity, I am still and restrain myself' (Is. 42:14) — and this silence means delay and waiting. But the language of the Arabs applies the description of speech to Him according to our interpretation, and does not apply to Him the description of silence — not even figuratively;
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so when we bring an expression like 'I have kept still' out for explanation in those terms, what we stated from the outset about the meaning of delay is confirmed.
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In the matter of saving people from a state that oppressed them — it is called remembrance, as in 'God remembered Noah' (Gen. 8:1), 'God remembered Rachel' (Gen. 30:22), and the like — this is called 'remembrance' in both languages (Hebrew and Arabic);
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yet neither language applied the opposite — forgetting, when saving is withheld — to Him; at most it says 'He did not remember His footstool' (Lam. 2:1). Favor and mercy
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...are said of Him by the name 'God the compassionate and gracious.' Vengeance and punishment are said of Him by the name 'jealous and avenging God' — and these meanings too refer back to the created beings, as in 'The Lord takes vengeance against His adversaries and He holds a grudge against His enemies; He keeps the covenant and kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments' (Nah. 1:2; Deut. 7:9).
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All these names — their meaning refers back to the created beings; and this is the distinction between the essential names and the action names, as I explained in my commentary on 'And these are the names' (Exodus).
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On the category of being affected: lest someone suppose that the only affection falling upon the Creator is sight alone, it is necessary that I demonstrate that sight too does not befall Him —
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for things are seen only by the colors that appear on their surfaces, which are related to the four elemental natures; these connect through the air to the power of sight — of the same genus — and are thus perceived;
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but the Creator — in whom it is impossible to believe there is any accident — sight has no power to grasp Him; and you see that the imagination has no pathway to picture or form Him, so how could sight have a pathway to Him?
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Some people were perplexed by the account of Moses our teacher — how he asked God 'Show me Your glory' (Ex. 33:18); and they were further perplexed by God's answer 'You cannot see My face, for no person can see Me and live' (Ex. 33:20); and their perplexity was doubled when He said 'You will see My back but My face shall not be seen' (Ex. 33:23).
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I say — with the aid of the Merciful — in uncovering and clarifying all of this: God has a light that He creates and manifests to the prophets, so they may infer from it that the prophetic speech they hear is from God;
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and when one of them saw it, he said 'I saw the Glory of the Lord,' and sometimes said 'I saw God' by implicit attribution. And you know that Moses,
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...Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel — it first says 'they saw the God of Israel' (Ex. 24:10), and then explains it: 'the appearance of the Glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain' (Ex. 24:17);
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but when they saw that light, they could not contemplate it because of its power and radiance — whoever tried to contemplate it, their composition would dissolve and their spirit depart, as in 'lest they break through to the Lord to see, and many would fall' (Ex. 19:21);
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So Moses asked God to strengthen him to contemplate that light; and God answered that the first part of that light is so great that Moses cannot look directly at it without perishing — but He will screen him with something like a canopy or similar until the front of the light passes, since the power of all radiant things is greatest at their front;
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as in 'I will cover you with My hand until I pass by' (Ex. 33:22); and when the front of the light passed, God removed the screen from Moses so he could look at its end, as in 'I will remove My hand and you will see My back' (Ex. 33:23);
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as for the Creator Himself — there is no pathway for anyone to see Him; that is categorically impossible.
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Section 13. Then I ask: how does this concept — namely the Creator, mighty and great — become established in our minds when none of our senses has encountered Him? I say: just as the judgment that truth is good and lying is bad becomes established in our minds without any of our senses encountering those;
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and just as our intellects arrive at the impossibility of the conjunction of existence and non-existence and other contradictions, even though the senses never saw that. And scripture says: 'And the Lord God is truth' (Jer. 10:10).
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And I ask: how does our intellect arrive at His presence in every place such that no place is devoid of Him? Because He always existed before all place: had places been able to divide His parts He would not have created them; and had bodies been able to occupy place away from Him — all or any part of it — He would not have created them;
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since this is so, His presence after creating all bodies is like His presence before that — without change, division, concealment, or interruption;