worship will find that examining this question, asking about it, and discerning the truth concerning it is his highest goal and greatest concern—that is, clarifying what one must believe, not inquiring into how the Lord is in His essence and attributes. There is nothing to which sound souls are more passionately drawn than to know this matter. This is something known by fiṭra (innate disposition) and direct experience. With a motive so powerful—indeed one of the strongest imaginable—how could its natural effect have failed to manifest among those noble predecessors throughout all their generations? Such a failure would scarcely occur even among the dullest of people, those most averse to God, utterly absorbed in worldly gain and heedless of His remembrance; so how could it be attributed to them? As for the claim that they believed, or articulated, anything other than the truth on this issue, no Muslim—indeed, no rational person who understands their standing—would ever entertain it.