Know that mark and trace, for the Folk, are two descriptions that proceed in endless eternity according to the way they proceeded in beginningless eternity. They mean according to what preceded in God’s knowledge, not that they proceeded in beginningless eternity. The realization of the allusion to them will become clear. Mark, wasm, with wāw, comes from sima, “sign.” It is the divine sign upon or within the servant that indicates he belongs to the people of arrival and realization.
As for trace, rasm, with rāʾ, it is the Real’s effect upon the servant, manifest upon him when he returns from a state or station he has claimed. This effect manifest upon him confirms the truth of his claim. Know, then—may God support us and you with a spirit from Him—that marks in us are like the names for God: indications through which the one indicated may be known.
When meanings became many and their relations multiple, names were assigned to the Essence to which these meanings are ascribed: for each meaning, a name indicating it and by which it is known, so that one may obtain their associated benefits from those knowledgeable about this. God assigned to every state and station a sign called a mark, indicating that station or state in a way that removes ambiguity, generality, and shared reference. This indication is a description of that meaning which has the ruling from this essence. It continues proceeding in endless eternity—that is, appearing always—just as it has always been in beginningless eternity.
(Beginningless Knowledge and the Appearance of the Effect)
Here is a wondrous subtle point. We have already said that the world is in the Real’s form, and knowledge attaches to the world through His knowledge of Himself. The world was therefore witnessed by the Real in beginningless eternity
