that exist in the hereafter; that is, those meanings were represented to them through things accessible to the imagination and the senses. Thus, whenever the revealed religion is taken at face value in its descriptions of Allah, neither this difficulty nor any other arises. For if it is said that He is light and that He has a veil of light, as stated in the Quran and the established Sunnah, and then that the believers will see Him in the hereafter just as the sun is seen, none of this gives rise to doubt or difficulty, either for the general public or for scholars. For scholars have established by demonstration that this state is an increase in knowledge. Yet whenever this is explicitly disclosed to the general public, the entire revealed religion becomes invalid in their eyes, or they declare the person who disclosed it to them an unbeliever. Whoever departs from the way of the revealed religion in these matters has strayed from the straight path.

If you reflect on the revealed religion, you will find that, although it has provided the general public with illustrations of these meanings, without which they could not conceive them, it has also drawn scholars’ attention to the very meanings illustrated for the general public. One must therefore observe the limits set by the revealed religion regarding the manner of instruction it has assigned to each class of people, lest the two forms of instruction become confused and the wisdom of the prophetic Law be corrupted.

For this reason, he said—upon him be blessings