perception and action. He states that none of this availed them when they denied Allah’s signs and the message. In this connection, the son of the jurist Shaykh al-Khudarī (*) related to me from his father, the leading Hanafī scholar of his time, that the jurists of Bukhara used to say of Ibn Sīnā:

“They were greater than them in strength and in the traces they left upon the earth,”

to the end of the verse. Strength encompasses both the theoretical faculty of cognition and the practical faculty of action. In another verse, He says:

“They were more numerous than them and greater in strength.”

He thus describes their superiority in quantity and quality, and their greater strength both in themselves and in the traces they left upon the earth. He—glorified be He—also says concerning the followers of these leaders among the rulers and learned men who opposed the messengers:

“On the Day their faces are turned about in the Fire, they will say, ‘If only we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!’”

continuing to His words:

“And curse them with a great curse.”

And He, Most High, says:

“When they dispute in the Fire, the weak will say to those who were arrogant, ‘We were your followers, so can you relieve us of any portion of the Fire?’”

There are many such passages in the Quran, recounting the words and deeds of the messengers’ enemies and the faculties of perception and action they had been granted, which did not benefit them when they opposed the messengers.

Allah—glorified be He—has also described the hypocrisy and misguidance found among scholars, worshippers, and rulers who profess to follow the messengers, as in His words:

“O you who believe, indeed many of the rabbis and monks consume people’s wealth unjustly,”

to the end of the verse. And the verb yasuddūna (turn away) is used intransitively; one says: sadda, sudūdan