In it, by it, before it and after it

Bismillah.

The created cosmos is all darkness.

It is illumined only by the manifestation of God in it.

He who sees the world and does not contemplate Him

in it

or

by it

or

before it

or

after it

is in need of illumination

and is veiled from the suns of gnosis

beneath the clouds of created things.

- Ibn Ata'illah in Kitab al-Hikam, 91 (25)