The existence of God: Every person of Israel must believe and know that there is a preexisting, eternal First Being. And He brought into being, and brings into being, everything that exists. And that is God, may He be blessed.
His perfection: One must also know that the true understanding of this Being, may His name be blessed, is not grasped at all by anyone besides Him. And we only know this about Him: That he is a perfect Being in every type of perfection and there is no deficiency in Him at all. (However we have known these things by tradition from the forefathers and from the prophets. And all of Israel grasped them at the stand at Mount Sinai, clearly understood their truth and taught them to their children - one generation after [another, until] this day. As Moses commanded them from the word of the Almighty [Deuteronomy 4:9], "lest you forget the things that you saw with your own eyes, etc. and you shall make them known to your children and to your children’s children." However all of these matters are even validated by way of the investigation of proofs that can be studied. And it is necessary for them to be so based, on what exists and on that which can be comprehended from them - which we see with our [own] eyes - according to the disciplines of science, geometry, astronomy and other disciplines from which you can take true bases from which the clarity of these true matters is derived. Yet we will not write at length about this now. Rather we will present the bases for their truth and arrange the things clearly according to the tradition that is in our hands and well-known to all of our nation.)
The necessity of His existence: One also must know that the existence of this Being, may His name be blessed, is a necessary existence, the absence of which is completely impossible.
His being independent of another: One must also know that His existence, may He be blessed, is not dependent at all on anything besides Him. Rather His existence is independently necessary.
His simplicity: And likewise he must know that His existence, may He be blessed, is a simple (undifferentiated) existence without composition or multiplicity at all. And all of the perfections are found within Him in a simple way. The explanation of this is [as follows]: Many different capabilities are found within the soul, each one of which has its own domain: By way of example, memory is one capability, willpower is another capability and imagination is [yet] another capability. And not one of these enters the domain of its fellow at all, as surely the domain of memory is one domain and the domain of willpower is another domain. And willpower does not enter into the domain of memory, nor does memory [enter] into the domain of willpower. And so [too] with all of them. However the Master, may His name be blessed, does not have different capabilities, even though He actually has properties that are differing within us. For surely He is willful and is wise and is powerful and He is perfect in every perfection; however the truth of His existence is one matter that includes within His truth and domain (meaning the truth of His being, as having a domain is not applicable to Him, may He be blessed - rather it is only by way of literary license) everything that is a perfection. And it comes out that He has all of the perfections - not as an addition to His essence and the truth of His being, but rather from the angle of the truth of His being itself, which includes in its truth all of the perfections in its truth; [as it] would be impossible for this [type of] being without all of the perfections, from the angle of itself. And this approach is truly very far from our comprehension and our perception. And it is almost as if we have no way to elucidate it or words to explain it. For our perceptions and imaginations only grasp things limited by [their] nature which is created by Him, may He be blessed - as this perception is what our senses perceive and bring to the mind. And with the creatures, [these capabilities] are surely many and differing matters. However, we have already prefaced that the truth of His existence, may He be blessed, is not grasped and it cannot be compared to what we see with the creatures. For their properties and existences are not at all the same, such that we could learn one from the other. However this is also from the things that are known through the tradition, but they are validated by investigation through nature itself, with its axioms and properties. For it is impossible that there nevertheless not exist a Being removed from all nature, axioms and limits, from all lack and deficiency, from all multiplicity and composition, from all relationship and value and from the contingency of the creatures - to be the Ultimate Cause for all that exists and for all that develops from it. For without this Existence, those things that we see existing and their continuation would be impossible.
His Unity: And it is also required for one to know that it is necessary for this Being, may His name be blessed, to be one and not more. The explanation of this is that it is impossible for there to exist many beings the existence of which is independently necessary. Rather this necessary and perfect Existence must be only one. And if there exist other beings, they only exist because He made them exist with His will; so it comes out that they are all dependent on Him, and not existing from themselves.
It comes out that the sum of these root principles are six. And they are: The truth of His existence, may He be blessed; His perfection; the necessity of His existence; His being independent of anything besides Him; His simplicity; and His Unity.