of reason. A fuller discussion of this belongs elsewhere; this is not the place for it. Their being people of demonstration in arithmetic, medicine, and geometry does not mean that they are people of demonstration concerning knowledge of Allah Most High, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day. Likewise, a man’s ability to demonstrate matters in geometry and arithmetic does not imply the same ability in medicine, although both are disciplines concerned with sensible things, and a person often becomes proficient in both. Clearly, knowledge of these divine matters is further removed from medicine and arithmetic than either of those disciplines is from the other.

He may then be asked: Suppose that this slave girl was not among the people of demonstration. What required the Messenger to address her with words bearing this apparent meaning when there was no need to do so? He could have ascertained her faith by asking, “Who is your Lord? Who is your God? Whom do you worship?” She would have replied, “Allah Most High.” Why, then, would he turn from wording whose apparent and underlying meanings are true to wording whose apparent meaning is false, while nevertheless requiring her to affirm that falsehood and forbidding her and others to believe its opposite? Is this the conduct of a rational person, let alone conduct involving lying?

Furthermore, Allah and His Messenger address creation with a single discourse in which He speaks