from this and attain happiness according to their capacities and dispositions; for what the messengers did represents the utmost possible disclosure of truths to humanity at large. The messengers’ aim is to preserve humanity and secure its welfare in this life and the Hereafter.

It is well known that this is the position of accomplished philosophers such as al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, and others. It is also the position of every accomplished and distinguished speculative theologian insofar as he differs from the people of hadith. Al-Fārābī says:

“The distinctive quality of prophethood is excellence in imaginatively representing intelligible realities in perceptible forms,”

or words to that effect. Ibn Sīnā mentions this meaning in several places and says:

“It was not possible for Moses son of Imrān, dealing with those Hebrews, nor for Muhammad, dealing with those uncouth Arabs, to explain truths to them as they really are. They would have been incapable of understanding them; and even if they understood them as they really are, they would lose their resolve to follow them, because they would see in them no knowledge that calls for action.”

This meaning is also found in the writings of Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī, others like him, and those who came after him. Some of it appears in al-Ihyā’ and elsewhere, and likewise in the writings of al-Rāzī.

As for the proponents of the unity of being and similar speculative theologians, this is the central principle around which their thought revolves. It also forms the foundation of the discourse of the Bātiniyya (esotericists) and the Qarmatians. These latter, however, deny the outward aspects of practical matters