The commentators side by side

تقدم أى سبق سبقا ذاتيا لازمانيا اذ الزمان من جملة الكائنات

Taqaddama, i.e. preceded with an essential, not a temporal, precedence, since time is among the created beings.

Unsigned in the print: for vv. 23–30 al-Būrīnī's commentary is wanting and the print gives al-Nābulusī's alone, without its siglum.

﴿كل الكائنات﴾

مفعول تقدم والكانات جمع كائنة وهى المخلوقات

The object of taqaddama. Al-kāʾināt is the plural of kāʾina, and they are the created things.

Unsigned in the print: for vv. 23–30 al-Būrīnī's commentary is wanting and the print gives al-Nābulusī's alone, without its siglum.

﴿حديثها﴾

أى حديث هذه المدامة المذكورة فاهل تقدم والحديث ما يتحدث به وينقل والمعنى هذا بالحديث الكلام النفسى الالهى الذى ليس من جنس الحروف والاموات المخلوقة ولاشك انه صفة من صفات الله تعالى ليس عين ذاته وقوه قديما حال من حديثها فان رتبة العلم متة دمة على رتبة المعلومات تقدماذا تيا لازمانيا أيضا وان كان الكل قديما

That is, the ḥadīth (discourse) of this aforementioned wine; [it is] the subject of taqaddama (preceded). Ḥadīth is what is spoken of and transmitted. The meaning of ḥadīth here is the divine al-kalām al-nafsī (inner speech), which is not of the genus of letters and created sounds. There is no doubt that it is one of the attributes of God Most High, not identical with His essence. His saying qadīman (eternally) is a ḥāl (circumstantial clause) from ḥadīthuhā, for the rank of knowledge precedes the rank of the objects of knowledge with an essential precedence, not a temporal one, even though the whole is eternal.

Unsigned in the print: for vv. 23–30 al-Būrīnī's commentary is wanting and the print gives al-Nābulusī's alone, without its siglum.

﴿ولا شكل هناك﴾

أى فى تلك الحضرة الالهية حضرة العلم الالهى والكلام الالهى وانما الشكل فى عالم الكون وكذلك

That is, in that divine ḥaḍra (presence), the ḥaḍra of divine knowledge and divine speech. Form exists only in the world of generated being (ʿālam al-kawn). And likewise

Unsigned in the print: for vv. 23–30 al-Būrīnī's commentary is wanting and the print gives al-Nābulusī's alone, without its siglum.

﴿ولا رسم﴾

قال فى المصباح الشكل بالفتح المثال يقال هذا شكل هذا والجمع شكول مثل فلس وفلوس وقد يجمع على أشكال والرسم الاثر والجمع رسوم وأرسم (والمعنى) فى ذلك ان الاشكال جميعها والرسوم هى أعيان الممكنات وهى المخلوقات كلها حادثة ليس شئ منها له وجود فى حضرة العلم الالهى والكلام الالهى بل هى كلها معدومة فى هاتين الحضرتين وانما هى موجودة بالايجاد الالهى الكلامى بطريق اشراق الوجود الحق عليها وهى الاثار الكونية بمنزلة الظل من الشاخص قال تعالى الترالى ريك كيف مد الظل أى الفلل الذى هو الكانات اه

In al-Miṣbāḥ he says: shakl, with fatḥa, is likeness; one says 'this is the shakl of this.' The plural is shukūl, like fals and fulūs, and it is sometimes pluralized as ashkāl. Rasm is trace; the plural is rusūm and arsum. (The meaning) in this is that all forms and traces are the aʿyān al-mumkināt (entities of possible things), which are the created things. All of them are originated. None of them has existence in the ḥaḍra (presence) of divine knowledge and divine speech; rather, they are all non-existent in these two ḥaḍras. They exist only through divine bringing-into-existence by speech, by way of the shining of the Real existence upon them. They are the generated traces, like the shadow of a standing figure. God Most High said: "Have you not seen your Lord, how He extended the shadow" (Q 25:45), that is, the shadow, which is the generated things.

Unsigned in the print: for vv. 23–30 al-Būrīnī's commentary is wanting and the print gives al-Nābulusī's alone, without its siglum.