a detailed exposition of this matter; we have mentioned it only to point out that their syllogistic demonstration yields no universal truths concerning contingent beings that must remain true forever. As for the Necessary Being—blessed and exalted is He—syllogistic reasoning does not establish what is unique to Him, but only a universal notion shared by Him and others. For, in their view, categorical syllogisms yield only shared universals, which are not exclusive to the Necessary Being, the Lord of all worlds—glorified and exalted is He. Thus, through their demonstration, they have gained no knowledge of anything that must endure, whether concerning the Necessary Being or contingent beings. If the soul attains perfection only through knowledge that endures as long as its object endures, then their demonstration has provided them with no knowledge through which the soul attains perfection—let alone justify the claim that such knowledge can be attained only through their demonstration.

For this reason, the prophets—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them—followed the method of establishing knowledge of the Lord Most High by mentioning His signs. When they employed “inferential reasoning” in doing so, they used a fortiori reasoning, not a categorical syllogism whose instances stand on an equal footing, nor mere analogical reasoning. For the Lord Most High has no equal, nor can He and anything else fall under a universal whose instances stand on an equal footing. Rather, any perfection free of deficiency that is established for another belongs to Him all the more; and any deficiency from which another is free, He is all the more free from it. For this reason, the demonstrative rational arguments mentioned