Know that the station of breaking customary order has many forms. Some arise through powers of the soul, for the world's bodies respond to souls' spiritual aspirations: thus God, exalted is He, has made the affair within them. Some arise through known natural devices, such as phylacteries and others, whose domain is known among scholars. Some arise through arranging letters with ascendants, belonging to those who observe the heavens. Some arise through names uttered by their invoker, from which the act called breaking customary order appears to the beholder's eye, but not in the reality of the affair. It may also occur in the reality of the affair according to that name's power. All these are within the creature's capacity through God's making.
(The Breaking in Which the Servant Has No Agency)
There are also breaks in customary order particular to the Divine Side, in which the servant has neither striving nor power. God manifests them upon him, or they appear from him through God's command and informing him. They have ranks. Some are called a prophetic miracle, with conditions and a particular, known description; some a sign, not a prophetic miracle; some a charismatic gift; some a confirmation; some an awakening and prompting; some a recompense; and some devising and gradual entrapment.
All have marks among the people of God, although those through whose hands they appear know nothing of this, unlike the first class, who know what proceeds from them.
Nothing we have mentioned of the second class, whose knowledge is attributed to God, exalted is He,
Notes
Translator’s note TN4818-1: The first class includes deliberately produced effects, which may be only in the beholder's sight or may occur in the reality of the affair. The second class is explicitly distinguished by the servant's lack of power or agency. “Phylacteries” retains the earlier rendering of al-filaqṭīrāt.
