a perfection in knowledge, and that knowledge in isolation is neither the soul’s perfection nor its rectitude. Even if knowledge alone were perfection, the knowledge they possess would not constitute the soul’s perfection.

We have likewise exposed the error of the Jahmites, who claimed that faith is nothing but knowledge, and demonstrated that the correct view is the position of the early Muslims and the leading imams: faith is both word and deed. Its foundation is the heart’s affirmation and the heart’s action, which together encompass the heart’s knowledge and its will.

Since the soul must have some object of desire that it loves for its own sake—without which it can neither be sound nor complete—and since that object is, in truth, its deity, it follows that the only god who can secure its welfare is Allah. Concerning this Allah the Exalted has said:

“Had there been in them any gods other than Allah, they would both have fallen into ruin.” (Quran, 21:22)

This principle is not exclusive to humankind; it applies to the angels and the jinn as well, for all of them are living, rational, articulate beings endowed with knowledge and volitional action. Their wellbeing likewise depends on their object of desire, loved for its own sake—namely, the One they worship. No being may rightfully be worshipped and loved in and of itself except Allah. Had there been in the heavens and the earth any deity besides Allah, they would surely have been corrupted. For this reason the religion of every messenger was to worship Allah alone, without partner.