a pig on a golden platter. How fitting it would be to call it “Nazm al-Shukūk” (The Poem of Doubts)! Allah knows best about it and what it contains. It gained wide currency, and people of the time went to great lengths in praising it and esteeming the doctrine that Creator and creation are one which it contains—recited as death approached him:
“If what I have suffered marks my rank in love with you,
Then I have wasted my days.
A wish my soul attained for a time—
Today I deem it a jumble of dreams.”
Among the foundations of faith is that Allah makes His servant steadfast through the firm word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, as the Most High says:
“Have you not seen how Allah sets forth a parable: a good word is like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and whose branches reach into the sky?”
“It yields its fruit at all times by its Lord’s permission. And Allah sets forth parables for people so that they may take heed.”
“And a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, with no stability.”
“Allah makes those who believe steadfast through the firm word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah leads the wrongdoers astray, and Allah does whatever He wills.”
The word is the foundation of belief, for belief is the word that a person holds to be true. The best of words and beliefs is the declaration of Allah’s oneness and the belief that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. The worst of words and beliefs is the declaration of associating partners with Allah, which means taking another deity alongside Allah. This is false and has no reality. Hence He, glorified be He, says:
“With no stability.”
Thus, the more a researcher investigates and a person acts upon these corrupt words and beliefs, the more he increases only in misguidance, distance from the truth, and knowledge of their falsity. As the Most High says:
“As for those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage on a plain, which a thirsty person thinks is water, until, when he reaches it, he finds it to be nothing. But he finds Allah there, who pays him his account in full; and Allah is swift in