And they will question you concerning the Spirit. Say: 'The Spirit is of the command of my Lord, not from the world of creation so as to enable one to define it for the exoterics, those preoccupied with bodies, whose perception does not go beyond sense and what is sensory, seeking similarities with what they have felt and [seeking] descriptions. Rather, It [the Spirit] belongs to the world of the command, that is, [the world] of origination, which is the world of essences that are disengaged from primordial matter and of substances that are sanctified from shape, colour, direction and whereness. Therefore you are unable to perceive It, you who are veiled by engendered being, by the shortcoming of your perception and your knowledge with regard to It. And of knowledge you have not been given except a little', namely, knowledge of sensory things, which is [a] trivial and paltry [quantity] in comparison to the knowledge of God, exalted be He, and [that of] those who are deeply rooted in knowledge.
