to Allah,’ it is proof that his followers are themselves the callers who summon people to Allah. But if the phrase is joined to the separate pronoun, it explicitly states that his followers are the people of clear insight with respect to what he has brought, to the exclusion of all others (1). In truth, the coordination conveys both meanings: his followers are the people of insight who call others to Allah.

Allah—exalted is He—has testified that those who perceive what was sent down to you from your Lord as the truth, and not the opinions of men, are the ones who possess knowledge. He says: “Yet those who have been given knowledge see that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth and that it guides to the path of the Mighty, the Praiseworthy” (Qur’an 34:6). And He says: “Is then one who knows that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth like one who is blind?” (Qur’an 13:19).

Hence, whoever finds a conflict between the realities of what the Messenger brought and the opinions of men, and then gives those opinions precedence over it, or (2) hesitates concerning it, or whose understanding and faith in it are thereby diminished, is not among those to whom Allah has borne witness for their knowledge, nor may he be called one of the people of knowledge.

So how could a caller to Allah upon clear insight—the one Allah has described as “a radiant lamp” (3), as “a guide to a straight path” (4), as the only one whose followers in the light sent down with him are truly successful (5), and as the authority whose judgment must be sought in every matter about which the disputants contend—