its conditions and essential pillars. It is likewise a command to learn those conditions and pillars, and to learn whatever the act cannot be completed without. This stands among the clearest proofs that the pursuit of knowledge is obligatory, for the perfection of every duty depends on knowing how it is to be performed.
In the same way, when Allah forbids something, the prohibition extends to every means that leads to it.
The command to wage jihad therefore includes the jihad itself and everything on which it depends, in every time and place. The command to convey the Sharia likewise encompasses whatever secures, perfects, completes, and broadens that conveyance—including bringing the legal rulings to people through every new facilitating medium.
• Benefit: Allah has stated in several verses that He guides the unbelievers of various creeds and accepts the repentance of every criminal, while in other verses He says, “Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people” (al-Baqara 2:258) and “Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people” (al-Maʾida 5:108). How are these passages reconciled?
The answer lies in His words: “Indeed, those for whom the word of your Lord has come into effect will never believe—even if every sign were to come to them—until they behold the painful punishment” (Yunus 10:96-97). This verse marks the boundary between those whom Allah guides and those whom He does not. Whoever is destined for punishment—because of obstinacy and because Allah knows they are unfit for guidance, so that wrongdoing and iniquity have become an inseparable, permanent trait—can be recognized by their outward conduct, their stubborn rejection, and their denial of evident truths. Such people have their hearts sealed by Allah so that no good can ever enter them. The blame is entirely theirs: they saw the path of right guidance and disdained it, saw the path of error and desired it, and took the devils as allies instead of Allah.
• Benefit: Many verses attribute events to Allah’s power, will, and all-encompassing creation, while many others attribute them to the agents who carry them out. These diverse verses are to be understood in light of the great principle unanimously affirmed by the early generations of the umma, and confirmed by both reason and revelation: every affair takes place by Allah’s decree and predestination—its very particulars