entirely concerned with the knowledge just mentioned. Rather, it also contains commands to perform obligatory deeds and prohibitions against unlawful acts. What is required of Allah’s servants is both obligatory knowledge and obligatory action. The entire Muslim community agrees that the deeds Allah has prescribed are obligatory; no one has said that they are not. Although some people have disputed whether deeds form part of faith, they have not disputed that Allah has prescribed the five daily prayers and the other ordinances of Islam, and has forbidden shameful deeds:
“Whether open or secret, sin, unjust aggression, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know.”
Since this is so, even supposing that a surah encompasses one-third of this knowledge, that would not constitute one-third of the Quran.
Second, we may say: When someone speaks of knowledge of His essence, knowledge of His names and attributes, and knowledge of His actions, if he means that His essence can be known without knowing any of His names or attributes, whether affirmative or negative, this is impossible. Even if he supposed this possible, or a servant imagined an essence abstracted from all negative and affirmative qualifications, that would certainly not constitute knowledge of Allah. Nor is the Lord of the worlds an essence abstracted from every negative or affirmative qualification.
Thus, no rational person has maintained this except the esotericist Qarmatians. They say: “Every affirmative and privative predicate is denied of Him. He is not described as existent or nonexistent, knowing or not knowing, powerful or not powerful, or anything of the kind.” Although their position is self-evidently false to reason, these people are