the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): “I know a stone in Mecca that used to greet me before I was sent as a prophet. I still recognize it now.”

This is a vast subject. Through His all-encompassing guidance, He—glorified be He—has guided His creatures and enabled them to understand one another’s intent through speech or other means with which Allah has inspired them. This calls for fuller treatment elsewhere. The point here, however, is that the way conclusive verbal proofs convey a speaker’s intent, and the listener’s recognition of that intent and understanding of the speaker’s words, are matters of immediate, necessary knowledge for all human beings, preceding their knowledge of abstract rational proofs. For when a child develops discernment,