9. `Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Imran al-Daqqaq said: Muhammad ibn Ya`qub said, on the authority of al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn `Amir, on the authority of Mua`alla ibn Muhammad that

The Learned was asked: “How is the knowledge of Allah?” He replied, He knows, He wills, He intends, He decrees, He predestines, and He makes to appear. Therefore, He exercise what He predestines, He predestines what He decrees, and He decrees what He intends. Thus, through His Knowledge is the Divine Will, through His Will is the Intent, through His Intent is the Divine Decree, through His Decree is predestination, and through His Predestination is the Exercise of His Will. Therefore, the Knowledge (of Allah) has precedence over the Will (of Allah), the Will (of Allah) is second, and the Intent (of Allah) is third. The Divine Decree is manifest in predestination through the Exercise (of Allah’s Will). For Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is the Appearance in whatever He knows, whenever He wills, and in whatever He intends for the decree of the things. Hence, if predestination occurs with authorization then there is no appearance. So the knowledge of the known exists before it. The Will in the originated is prior to itself. The Intent in the intended precedes its existence. The Decree for these known things is prior to their detachment and joining, evidently and obviously. Predestination through exercise is inescapable from the effective possessors of bodies that can be perceived through senses like color, smell, weight and measure, and whatever crawls or walks of the humans, the jinn, the birds, the beasts, and other than that which are perceived through senses. Therefore, for Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is the Appearance, of what has no existence, However, if the perceived conceptual existence occurs then there is no Appearance. Allah does whatever he wills, and through His Knowledge He knows all things prior to their existence. Through the Divine Will He identifies their attributes and limits; and originate them before their disclosure. Through the Intent He differentiates them in their colors, attributes and limits. Through the Divine Decree He decrees their times, and knows their beginning and their end. Through Predestination He manifested the places of mankind and led them to these. Through the Exercise of His Will He explained their reasons for being, and manifested their mattes. That is the decree of the Honorable, the All-Knowing. Muhammad ibn `Ali the Compiler of this book, may Allah help him in His obedience, says: The Appearance is not the way the ignorant think, namely, that He appears to regret. Exalted is Allah from that. However, it is mandatory upon us to confirm with Allah, the Mighty and High, that He has the power of Appearance. The meaning of that is: Verily, it is for Him to start something from His Creation to create it before something, and then that thing becomes nonexistent, and He begins with something other than it. Or He orders to do something then stops from doing it, or orders to stop from something, then orders to do what He had stopped. The examples of that would be the abrogation of previous Shari`ahs (to Islam), changing of the direction of Qiblah, and the prescribed period [`iddat] of a woman whose husband has passed away. Allah does not command His Servants for a matter in a specified time except when He knows that it is in their interest in that time. And He knows that in another time their interest is in stopping them from the like of which He commanded them to do. Therefore, in all times He commands them for what is in their interest. Thus, whoever confirms for Allah, the Mighty and High, that for Him is to do what He wills, to destroy what He wills, to create in its place what He wills, to advance what He wills, to retard what He wills, to command what He wills and how He wills, to command what He wills and how He wills, then he has confirmed the doctrine of the Appearance. Allah, the Mighty and High, has not revered anything better than the confirmation that for Him is the creation, the command, advancement, and to retard and establishing what does not exist, and to destroy what does exist. The belief in the Appearance is a rejection of the Jews, because they said: Verily, Allah concluded the affair. Hence, we said: Verily, Allah is in a new manifestation everyday. He gives life, and He kills. He gives sustenance, and does what He wills. The Appearance is not from regret. It is certainly manifestation of a matter. The Arabs say: `A man appeared in my way’ i.e. manifested. Allah, the Mighty and High said: And there shall appear to them from Allah that which they had not been expecting, i.e. become plain to them. Whenever Allah, Exalted be His Remembrance, observes that a servant observes the ties of kinship, He increases his life; and whenever He observes that a servant severs the ties of kinship, He decreases his life. Whenever Allah observes that a servant fornicates, He reduces his life. Whenever Allah observes that a servant fornicates, He reduces his sustenance and shortens his life; and whenever he observes that a servant is chaste, He increases his sustenance and lengthens his life.