Original content

English translation

But the knowledge of the servant should concern the affairs of God Most High and the knowledge of Him, and what is obligatory upon the servant is the knowledge of the moment (waqt) and that which is needed according to the moment, outwardly and inwardly. This is of two kinds: one is fundamentals (usul) and the other is branches (furu'). The outward of the fundamentals is professing the testimony (shahada) and its inward is the verification of gnosis; the outward of the branches is the practice of religious dealings (mu'amala) and its inward is the rectification of intention. The standing of each of these without the other is impossible. The outward of reality without the inward is hypocrisy, and the inward of reality without the outward is heresy; the outward of the Law without the inward is the carnal self, and the inward without the outward is caprice.

So the knowledge of reality (haqiqa) has three pillars: first, knowledge of the Essence of God, Almighty and Majestic, His unity, and the negation of anthropomorphism from His pure Essence, may His majesty be glorified; second, knowledge of His attributes and their rulings; and third, knowledge of His acts and His wisdom.

And the knowledge of the Law (shari'a) has three pillars: first the Book, second the Sunna, and third the consensus of the community (ijma'). The proof for the knowledge of establishing the Essence, the pure attributes, and the acts of God Most High is His saying, Most High: 'Know that there is no god but God' (Muhammad, 19); and He also said: 'Know that God is your protector' (al-Anfal, 40); and He also said: 'Have you not regarded your Lord, how He extends the shadow?' (al-Furqan, 45); and He also said: 'Do they not look at the camels, how they are created?' (al-Ghashiya, 17). Verses like these are many, all of them proofs for reflecting upon His acts, Most High and Holy, so that through those acts one may know the Agent by His attributes.

And the Prophet said, may God bless him and grant him peace: 'Whoever knows that God Most High is his Lord and that I am His prophet, God Most High has forbidden his flesh and his blood to the Fire.'

The condition of the knowledge of the Essence of God Most High is that one knows that God Most High is existent in the pre-eternity of His own Essence, without limit and without bounds, not in place or direction, and that His Essence is not subject to affliction. Nothing among His creation is like Him. He has neither wife nor child. Whatever takes form in imagination and is measured by the mind, He, may His majesty be glorified, is its Creator, Sustainer, and Nourisher; for His saying, Most High: 'There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing' (al-Shura, 11).

As for the knowledge of His attributes, it is that you know that His attributes, Most High, are existent through Him — being neither He nor other than He — subsisting through Him, while He subsists through Himself and is everlasting: such as knowledge, power, life, will, hearing, sight, speech, and permanence; for His saying, Most High: 'Indeed He knows what is within the breasts' (al-Anfal, 43); and He also said: 'And God is powerful over all things' (al-Baqara, 284); and He also said: 'He is the Living, there is no god but He' (al-Ghafir, 65); and He also said: 'And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing' (al-Shura, 11); and He also said: 'Doer of what He wills' (Hud, 107); and He also said: 'His word is the truth' (al-An'am, 73).

As for the knowledge of establishing His acts, it is that you know that He, Most High and Holy, is the Creator of the creatures and the Creator of their acts; the world, which was non-existent, came into being through His act; He is the Determiner of good and evil, the Creator of benefit and harm; for His saying, Most High: 'God is the Creator of all things' (al-Zumar, 62).

The proof for establishing the rulings of the Law is that you know that from God Most High messengers came to us with miracles that break custom, and our Messenger, Muhammad the Chosen, may God bless him and grant him peace, is true, possessing many miracles, and whatever he has informed us of, of the unseen and the seen, is all true. The first pillar of the Law is the Book; for His saying, Most High: 'In it are clear verses' (Al 'Imran, 7); the second is the Sunna; for His saying, Most High: 'Whatever the Messenger brings you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it' (al-Hashr, 7); and the third is the consensus of the community; for his saying, peace be upon him: 'My community will not agree upon error; hold fast to the great majority.' In sum, the rulings of the Law are many, and if someone wished to gather them all, he could not; for the subtleties of God Most High have no end.