be on their guard.” When the jinn heard the Quran,

“they returned to their people as warners.”

Since this is so, every person has knowledge of his Lord within his heart. When he is told,

“Read in the name of your Lord,”

he knows the Lord in whose name he is commanded to read, just as he knows that he is a created being. The existence of a created being necessarily implies a Creator and points to Him. This has been discussed at length elsewhere, where it has been explained that acknowledging and recognizing the Creator is innate and self-evident within human souls. Some people, however, may experience something that corrupts their innate disposition, so that they need rational inquiry to acquire this knowledge. This is the view of most people, including the most accomplished rational thinkers: knowledge is sometimes attained immediately and sometimes through rational inquiry, as several leading speculative theologians have acknowledged.

This verse also indicates that rational inquiry is not the first obligation. Rather, the first thing Allah enjoined upon His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was:

“Read in the name of your Lord.”

He did not say, “Engage in rational inquiry and seek proof until you come to know the Creator.” Likewise, this surah was the first thing the Prophet conveyed. Those to whom it was conveyed were therefore addressed by this verse before anything else, yet it did not command them to engage in rational inquiry or seek proof. Many speculative theologians, however, have maintained that the soul can acknowledge the Creator and affirm His existence only through rational inquiry.