it?” If he replies negatively, then the fact that Allah is beyond the restrictions of space is firmly established in his conscience, and that is sufficient for him. You can think of further examples in the same way.
Know too that as expounded by Sa‘d,1 belief is a light that Allah (May He be exalted) instils instantaneously in the hearts of those of His servants that He wishes – that is, after they have used their will power. Yes, belief is a light for the human conscience, a ray from the Pre-Eternal Sun that suddenly bathes in light the conscience’s inner face. It affords it a feeling of familiarity with the whole universe and establishes relations between it and all things. It imparts such moral strength to a person’s heart that he can overcome all the events and misfortunes that beset him. It affords him such breadth he can endure the past and the future. Yes, as belief is a ray from the Pre-Eternal Sun, so it is a flash of eternal happiness, that is, of the resurrection of the dead. Through the light it emits, the seeds of man’s hopes sprout, and the potentialities lodged in his conscience start to grow and to stretch out towards eternity, and the seeds of his abilities are transformed into a Tree of Tuba.
“Are steadfast in prayer (Wa yuqīmūna al-ṣalāt):
Consider this: the positioning [of this phrase and its relationship with the previous one] is as clear as daylight. For the ṣalāt being specified rather than other physical good works indicates that they are an index of all meritorious acts and a sample of them, and that they reflect them – like the Fātiḥa is an index of the Qur’an and man is an index of the world. For in one sense the ṣalāt include fasting, the Hajj, zakāt, and the other forms of worship; and they include the worship of all creatures, both innate and voluntary; some of the angels bow in worship, others prostrate, and yet others stand, and some stones prostrate in worship, and some trees stand, and some animals bow down.
The verbal form “(lit. they perform) yuqīmūna” is used instead of ‘al-muqīmūn’ (the active participle) in order to thrust before the mind’s eye of the listener this extensive vital action, this heedfulness of the spirit, in the world of Islam, and to alert his imagination to this admirable and orderly situation in all the regions of humanity, and to arouse in him the desire to do likewise. For if someone observes the effect of a bugle call on soldiers
Sa‘d al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī, born in Taftazan in Khurasan in 712 H (or 727 H) and died in Samarqand in 793 H. He was an authority in the sciences of Arabic, logic, and fiqh. He strove to revive the Islamic sciences after the Mongol invasion. Among his works are Tahzīb al-Manṭiq, Sharḥ al-Maqāṣid, and Sharḥ al-‘Aqā’id al-Nasafīya.