The first point is indicated by the statement of God; the Exalted: ".

The first point is indicated by the statement of God; the Exalted: "...Messengers bearing good tidings, and warning, so that mankind might have no argument against God, after the Messengers; God is All-mighty, All-wise." (4:165) This indicates that the intellect on its own is inadequate for attaining perfection and guidance to the most correct path. For were it sufficient, the argument for the adequacy of the intellect and reliance on its guidance would be justified.

If people committed sins and per. formed offences, the argument of Allah against them would be established (for the intellect which had been given them had forbidden them from it, so why did they not follow it but go against it?) It would then be right for them to be punished for their sins and evil deeds. However, the noble Qur'an does not support or sanction punishment before sending Messengers.

God, the Exalted, has said: "We never chastise until We send forth a Messenger." (17:15) "Had we destroyed them with a chastisement aforetime, they would have said, `Our Lord, why didst Thou not send us a Messenger, so that we might have followed Thy signs before we were humiliated and degraded?" (20:134) This proves that it is not God's practice to chastise His creatures before dispatching Messengers, nor to humiliate, disgrace, and destroy through punishment a people before sending prophets to them.

Were it not so, these creatures would protest to God that the punishment was carried out before the proof was completed.

The weakness of human thought and the fact that man is not aware of all beneficial and harmful consequences of his acts, even in matters closest to him, is pointed out in the statement of God, the Exalted, when explaining the distribution of inheritance and appointing specific shares to each heir: "You know not which out of them is nearer in profit to you." (4:11) When explaining the necessity of belief in revelation and the impermissibility of turning away from it, God, the Exalted, says: "So when their Messengers brought them the clear signs, they rejoiced in what knowledge they had, and were encompassed by what they mocked at." (40:83) This indicates that man's knowledge does not guarantee him happiness, otherwise it would not be wrong on his part to be content with it.

However, it is not so because he is incapable of attaining through it what he needs. Thus it is reprehensible for man to confine himself to his own knowledge and turn away from what the prophets have brought.