With the eye of discernment...

With the eye of discernment, they have seen the reality of things in the kingdom of heaven and earth, for through sincerity of obedience they have reached the station of certainty (yaqin). As a result of this certainty, the kingdoms of heaven and earth and the immortal life of the eternal world have become revealed to them.

Deliberation upon the following holy verses illuminates fully this claim: “And We sent no messenger before thee but We inspired him (saying): There is no God save Me (Allah), so worship Me” ;(1) and, “Glorified be Allah from that which they attribute (unto Him), Save single-minded slaves of Allah” ;(2) also, “Say, I am only a mortal like you. My Lord inspireth in me that your God is only One God.

And whoever hopeth for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work and make none sharer of the worship due unto his Lord”; (3) “Nay, but the record of the righteous is in ‘Iliyin – Ah! what will convey unto thee what ‘Iliyin is! – A written record, attested by those who are brought near (unto their Lord)”; (4) “Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge [‘ilm al-yaqin]!

Ye will behold hellfire” .(5) Thus it may be said that one of the paths to the comprehension of religious verities and sciences is the purification of the carnal soul and sincerity in obedience to God.

From what has been said it becomes clear that the Holy Qur’an proposes three methods for the comprehension of religious truths: the external, or formal aspects of religion; intellectual reasoning; and sincerity in obedience leading to the intellectual intuition which results in the unveiling of the truth and its inward vision. Yet it must be understood that these three methods differ from each other in several ways.

For instance, since the external forms of religion are verbal expressions in the simplest language, they are in the hands of all people, and everyone benefits from them according to his own capacity. On the other hand, the other two paths, which are appropriate to a particular group (the elite – khawass), are not common to all.

The path of the external forms of religion leads to the understanding of the principles and the obligations of Islam and results in knowledge of the substance of the beliefs and practices of Islam, and of the principles of the Islamic sciences, ethics, and jurisprudence. This is in contrast to the other two paths.