by which salvation and true felicity are attained. It was the prophets, however, who set all of this forth with clarity. The Exalted said:

“Say: My Lord has forbidden only indecencies—those committed openly and those done in secret—sin, transgression without right, that you associate with Allah anything for which He has sent down no authority, and that you say about Allah what you do not know.” ⦗Al-Aʿrāf: 33⦘

These four categories He has declared absolutely unlawful. He has not granted anyone permission to commit any of them under any circumstance whatsoever. Blood, carrion, pork, and the like may be forbidden in one situation yet permitted in another, but these four are forbidden categorically.

Indecencies are tied to lust; wrongful aggression is tied to anger. As for associating partners with Allah, it corrupts the very foundation of justice—for shirk is a tremendous wrong—while speaking about Allah without knowledge corrupts knowledge itself. Thus the Almighty has proscribed these four: the corruption of desire, the corruption of anger, the corruption of justice, and the corruption of knowledge.

His words—“that you associate with Allah anything for which He has sent down no authority” ⦗Al-Aʿrāf: 33⦘—comprise the prohibition of the root of injustice toward Allah, which in turn entails the obligation of establishing justice toward Him, namely, worshipping Him alone with no partner