the intellect has been defined as self-evident knowledge, which no rational person lacks.

Pharaoh’s statement, “Your messenger who has been sent to you is surely mad,” exemplifies the slanders that those who reject the messengers direct against them. Whenever the messengers departed from the customs that their opponents considered praiseworthy, they accused them of madness. They openly professed denial of the Creator, or misgivings and doubt about Him. Such was the condition of the people generally and the character of their religion, which they considered good. Their only god, whom they obeyed, was Pharaoh. Thus he said:

“Your messenger who has been sent to you is surely mad.”

Moses therefore made it clear to him: it is you who have been deprived of beneficial reason, and you are more deserving of this description. He said:

“The Lord of the east and the west and all that lies between them, if you use your reason.”

For reason necessarily entails certain, self-evident knowledge, foremost among which, in the innate human disposition, is acknowledgment of the Creator. Having first explained that whoever is certain of anything is certain of Him—and certainty about anything is inseparable from reason—he then explained that acknowledging Him is inseparable from reason.

What is praiseworthy, however, is beneficial knowledge upon which its possessor acts. If he does not act upon it, he is said to have no reason. It is likewise said of someone who does not follow what he knows with certainty: