He said:

“Abū Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, by what means should I say that I have known Allah?’ He replied, ‘If you say “Through whom?” you have associated partners with Him; if you halta, you have disbelieved; and if you introduce an intermediary, you have gone astray.’”

ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked, “By what means did you know your Lord?” He replied, “Through His making Himself known to me. He resembles no form, cannot be perceived by the senses, and cannot be measured against human beings.”

It is also related that Najda al-Harūrī asked Ibn ʿAbbās, “O Ibn ʿAbbās, by what means did you know your Lord when you came to know Him?” He answered in terms similar to those of the Commander of the Faithful.

And there is the statement of the greatest affirmer of truth:

“Glory be to Him who has given creation no path to knowing Him except through their inability to know Him.”

This knowledge is necessarily present within the knower, just as a paralysed person’s condition and his remaining seated are necessarily present in him. Thus He, glorified is He, is the One whom nothing denies and of whom nothing is ignorant. Whoever possesses only the two kinds of knowledge is an unbeliever; faith becomes valid through the third kind.

This is the third section: knowledge of tawhīd, to which the messengers called, with which they were sent, and which we were charged to accept. It is expressed in His words:

“Your God is one God.”

And in His words:

“Lest people should have against Allah