There are people who have no talent for logical thought and who...

There are people who have no talent for logical thought and who, with their simple minds, live in a surrounding of physical labour and on a level of purely material life, whereas there are others whose thought is logical and who by their very nature take a special joy in comprehending profound concepts and scientific theories.

Still, others have cut their attention from both thought and physical labour and, having a special aversion for the dark world of matter and its deceiving beauty and fleeting pleasures find in themselves a particular attraction towards the transcendent world and a peculiar fascination for its lasting and infinite beauty, of which the beauty of this world is only the reflected image. Such men easily comprehend the verities and mysteries of the transcendent world by means of inner illumination.

It is with a view to this diversity, which is clearly visible among men, that Islam instructs each of these three groups in its own terms and language. One group has been taught by means of the external and formal aspects of religion and a second group by way of intellectual demonstration, while the third group has been instructed to struggle against the carnal soul and to purify the heart.

In the same way, in the Quran God has struck a similitude about His Own utterances and expressions: “He sendeth down water from the sky so that valleys flow according to their measure.” (4) The Holy Prophet has said, “We prophets have been commanded to speak to men according to the measure of their understandings.” Those among its followers who do have not the taste for rational demonstration and who would face the danger of error and deviation if they were to attempt to traverse this path, Islam has charged with no more than the measure of their ability, and beyond the three principles of religion (Divine Unity, Prophecy and the Last Judgement) it only instils them with simple practical injunctions such as the command to do good and prohibitions from committing evil; this type of formulation is found in a great number of Quranic verses and in saying of the Prophet and the Shi’ite Imams.

Of course, in the case of the three principles of religion, a man in his primordial nature can engage in a simple form of rational demonstration, and hence he will have accepted nothing but definitely proven knowledge.