Figure II.2: The daytime and night in the sky. Night is only in some regions below the corresponding orb, whereas in the orb itself it is all day. And in the case of the normal day on the earth, the outlet of the night is extended in space as a cone.
So with regard to us, we are necessarily either under the effect of the daytimes of particular divine Names of Allah or under the effect of their nights, depending on Allah's manifestation for each one of us and in everything else. But these Names in themselves have no daytime and night, but rather are all light. Ibn Arabi explains this differing influence of the different divine Names further by saying:
So its night is the 'unseen' (ghayb), which is what is hidden away from us but at the same time affects the high Spirits which are above Nature and also the roaming Spirits; and its daytime is the 'seen', which is its effect in natural bodies down to the last elementary body.
[III.201.15]
Ibn Arabi also gives more details about the different manifestations of God to different kinds of bodies and spirits, by dividing the daytime and night each into three thirds:
and when Allah divided His Days like that, He made its night three parts and its daytime three parts; so He, the Exalted, descends down to His servants in the last third of the night of His Days [Kanz: 3355, 3388], and that is when He is manifested to the natural spirits (al-arwah al-tabi iyya) that manage the material bodies; and in the middle third He manifests to the subjected spirits (al-arwah al-musakhkhara, or the angels of each heavenly sphere), and in the first third He manifests to the 'dominating spirits' (al-arwah al-muhaymina).
And He divided the day of these days into three parts, and in every part He is manifested to the world of bodies for they are always praising Allah. So in the first third He is manifested to the subtle bodies (al-ajsam al-latifa) which are unseen by sight, in the middle third He is manifested to the transparent materials (al-ajsam al-shaffafa), and in the last third He is manifested to the dense materials (al-ajsam al-kathifa). Without this manifestation, they would not be able to know Whom they are praising.
[III.201.24]
The science of Time is a noble science, that reveals the secret of Eternity. Only the Elites of Sages may ever come to know this secret. It is called the First Age, or the Age of ages, from which time is emerging.
