Whatever is a necessary concomitant of the motion of the sphere—which is the cause of time—is also a necessary concomitant of every moving object, [whether it be moving] in terms of generation or corruption, increase or decrease, or transportation from one place to another, and [all this] is not in God, for these are attributes of natural things, and God is alone and far from being susceptible of being linked with attributes, whether corporeal or spiritual.
As for the time that you attribute to God, [it is to be understood] in the sense that He is the Originator (mubdiʿ) of time and the Originator of things both non-composed and composed. As for the imaginal time (zamān-i wahmī) from which the natural motions keep coming forth, this is the [lower] limit of the activity of the Soul, for it is through its [respective] imaginal motion (ḥarakat-i wahmī) that the universal Soul receives the light of the oneness of God (nūr-i waḥdat-i īzad), and it is through it [i.e., the imaginal motion of the universal Soul] that natural time and motion subsist [or: ‘arise’, bidū qāʾim ast).
Therefore, since imaginal motion, which is the cause of all motions, is related to Soul, and [since] universal Intellect, which is the Prime Originated (mubdaʿ-i awwal), is far beyond that motion, how could it be admissible to attribute motion—which is the cause of time—or time—which is caused by motion—to the Creator? Thus, time cannot be attributed to the Creator in any way whatsoever. Understand this!
On eliminating attributes from the Creator
