He has made life a stomach too, like the physical one, and before the senses, which are like the hands of the stomach of life, has spread a most extensive table of bounties. Through its senses, life offers thanks for each sort of benefit on the table of bounties.

And after the stomach of life, He has bestowed on man the stomach of humanity, which requires sustenance and bounties in a wider sphere than life. Intelligence, mind, and imagination, like the hands of this stomach, benefit from the table of mercy, which is as broad as the heavens and the earth, and give thanks.

And after the stomach of humanity, He has spread before man another table of bounties which is infinitely vast. He has made the beliefs of Islam like an immaterial stomach requiring much sustenance and has extended its table outside the sphere of contingency and included in it the Divine Names. Thus, through this stomach and the greatest pleasure of sustenance, man perceives the Names of All-Merciful and All-Wise and exclaims: “All praise be to God for His mercifulness and His wisdom!” And so on. Man is able to benefit from limitless Divine bounties through this vast immaterial stomach. And there is a further sphere in this stomach, which is the pleasure of Divine love....