“His Will.] He, praised be his name, doth will those things to be that are, and disposes of all accidents.  Nothing passes in the empire, nor the kingdom, neither little nor much, nor small nor great, nor good nor evil, nor profitable nor hurtful, nor faith nor infidelity, nor knowledge nor ignorance, nor prosperity nor adversity, nor increase nor decrease, nor obedience nor rebellion, but by his determinate counsel and decree, and his definite sense and will.  Nor doth the wink of him that seeth, nor the subtlety of him that thinketh, exceed the bounds of his will:  but it is he who gave all things their beginning; he is the creator and restorer, the sole operator of what he pleases; there is no reversing his decree nor delaying what he hath determined, nor is there any refuge to man from his rebellion against him, but only his help and mercy; nor hath any man any power to perform any duty toward him, but through his love and will.  Though men and genii, angels and devils, should conspire together either to put one single atom in motion, or cause it to cease its motion, without his will and approbation they would not be able to do it.  His will subsists in his essence among the rest of his attributes, and was from eternity one of his eternal attributes, by which he willed from eternity the existence of those things that he had decreed, which were produced in their proper seasons according to his eternal will, without any before or after, and in agreement both with his knowledge and will, and not by methodizing of thoughts, nor waiting for a proper time, for which reason no one thing is in him a hinderance from another.

“His Hearing and Sight.] And he, praised be his name, is hearing and seeing, and heareth and seeth.  No audible object, how still soever, escapeth his hearing; nor is anything visible so small as to escape his sight; for distance is no hinderance to his hearing, nor darkness to his sight.  He sees without pupil or eyelids, and hears without any passage or ear, even as he knoweth without a heart, and performs his actions without the assistance of any corporeal limb, and creates without any instrument, for his attributes (or properties) are not like those of men, any more than his essence is like theirs.

“His Word.] Furthermore, he doth speak, command, forbid, promise, and threaten by an eternal, ancient word subsisting in his essence.  Neither is it like to the word of the creatures, nor doth it consist in a voice arising from the commotion of the air and the collision of bodies, nor letters which are separated by the joining together of the lips or the motion of the tongue.  The Koran, the Law, the Gospel, and the Psalter, are books sent down by him to his apostles, and the Koran, indeed, is read with tongues, written in books, and kept in hearts; yet as subsisting in the essence of God, it doth not become liable to separation and division while it is transferred into the hearts and the papers.  Thus Moses also heard the word of God without voice or letter, even as the saints behold the essence of God without substance or accident.  And that since these are his attributes, he liveth and knoweth, is powerful and willeth and operateth, and seeth and speaketh, by life and knowledge, and will and hearing, and sight and word, not by his simple essence.