In this chapter, Maimonides emphasizes the immateriality of God.

The corporeal element in man is a large screen and partition that prevents him from perfectly perceiving abstract ideals: this would be the case even if the corporeal element were as pure and superior as the substance of the spheres; how much more must this be the case with our dark and opaque body. However great the exertion of our mind may be to comprehend the Divine Being or any of the ideals, we find a screen and partition between Him and ourselves.

Note: Friedlander has “the corporeal element in man”, but in Husein Atay’s Arabic edition there is only al-maadda hijab azeem, i.e. it seems from the Arabic that Maimonides is calling all matter a screen unto God.