Among the greatest faculties of the intellect is its ability to recognize similarity and difference. When it observes two similar things, it knows that one is like the other and applies the same judgment to both—as when it compares water with water, earth with earth, and air with air, then makes a universal judgment concerning their shared feature. When it applies corresponding judgments to particular instances and their like, while stating what they share, the explanation is clearer. This is direct analogy. When it observes two different things, such as water and earth, it distinguishes between them. This is inverse analogy.
The reflection Allah commands in His Book encompasses both direct and inverse analogy. Since He destroyed those who rejected the messengers because of their rejection, one lesson to draw is that whoever acts as they did will suffer as they suffered. One therefore avoids rejecting the messengers for fear of punishment. This is direct analogy. One also understands that whoever does not reject the messengers will not suffer that fate. This is inverse analogy, and it is the intended lesson to be drawn from those who were punished. For the intended conclusion in the new case is the opposite of the ruling in the original case, not a corresponding ruling. Lessons may be drawn through either form of analogy.
Allah Most High says:
“There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding.”
And He says:
“There has already been a sign for you in the two armies,”
up to His words:
“Indeed, in that is a lesson for those with insight.”
Allah Most High also says:
“It is Allah who has sent down the Book in truth and the balance.”
And He says:
“We certainly sent Our messengers with clear proofs and sent down with them the Book and the balance so that people might uphold justice.”
The early generations explained “and the balance” as justice, while some explained it as that with which things are weighed. The two meanings are inseparable. Allah Most High has stated that He sent this down, just as He sent down the Book, so that people might uphold justice. Thus, that by which one recognizes