their hearing, sight, or hearts, since they denied Allah’s signs, and they were overwhelmed by the very thing they used to ridicule.”

He thus described the various faculties of perception and action with which He had endowed them. He also stated that these availed them nothing, since they denied Allah’s signs—the message with which He sent His messengers. In this connection, the son of Shaykh al-Hasīrī related to me from his father, Shaykh al-Hasīrī (*)—the leading Hanafī scholar of his time—who said: “The jurists of Bukhara used to say of Ibn Sīnā: ‘He was an intelligent disbeliever.’”

Allah Most High said:

“Have they not travelled through the land and seen how those before them met their end? They were greater than them in strength and in the marks they left upon the earth”—to the end of the verse.

Strength encompasses both the theoretical capacity for perception and the practical capacity for action.

He said in the other verse:

“They were more numerous than them, greater in strength and in the marks they left upon the earth.”

He thus described their superiority in quantity and quality: they were mightier both in themselves and in the marks they left upon the earth.

He, Most High, said:

“Yet all that they used to earn availed them nothing.”

“When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in the knowledge they possessed, and they were overwhelmed by the very thing they used to ridicule.”

He, Most High, said:

“This is Allah’s promise. Allah never breaks His promise, but most people do not know.”

“They know only the outward aspects of this worldly life, while they are heedless of the Hereafter.”

—up to His words—

“Allah originates creation, then brings it back, then to Him you will be returned.”

He, Most High, said:

“They denied the truth when it came to them, but news of what they used to ridicule will soon reach them.”

—up to His words—

“And We raised up another generation after them.”