He said:

“The rationale for the first view is that the first act of obedience Allah requires of His creatures is acquiring the intention to engage in reflection that leads to establishing the existence of properties and their coming into being, and that substances did not precede them. Since this is the first obligation, it must be the first religious blessing bestowed upon a person.”

He said:

“The greatest and most exalted of Allah’s religious blessings upon the believers is His inscribing faith in their hearts.”

He said:

“It has also been said that the greatest religious blessing is the creation of the capacity to believe. The first view is more fitting, for the greatest act of obedience is faith: having it and persevering in it to the end brings everlasting reward in the Hereafter, whereas without it that reward is not attained.”

Then they said—and this is Judge Abū Ya'lā’s wording:

“This is contrary to those who say that the first obligation is knowledge of Allah, and contrary to those who say that knowledge of Allah is not obligatory, but that what is obligatory is acknowledging Him and believing Him.”

He said:

“The proof of what we have stated is that it has been established that someone who does not know Allah cannot draw near to Him, just as someone who does not know Zayd cannot draw near to him. For anyone seeking nearness must know the one to whom he seeks to draw near. Allah is neither visible to us nor known to us through immediate knowledge. We can therefore know Him only through reflection and inference concerning the path that leads to Him. Since knowledge of Him cannot be attained without this, it must be obligatory; and once its obligation is established, it is known to be the first obligation.”

He then said:

Section

Once it has been established that this is the first obligation, reflection must be directed toward the path leading to knowledge of Allah, namely, the coming into being of things—substances