you,” and similar expressions that imply a connection between the two acts and a reciprocal exchange between the parties. It is as when a slave says to his master, “Free me, and I shall owe you a thousand,” or a woman says to her husband, “Divorce me, and you shall have a thousand,” or, “Release me from the marriage, and you shall have a thousand.” This is equivalent to her saying, “For a thousand,” or, “I shall owe you a thousand.”

Likewise, if he says, “You are free, and you owe a thousand,” or, “You are divorced, and you owe a thousand,” this is equivalent to saying, “I owe a thousand,” or, “For a thousand,” according to the majority of jurists. Distinguishing between these formulations is an anomalous opinion. One party to an exchange may say to the other, “I give you this and take this,” or use similar expressions, and the other replies, “Yes,” even though neither act is exclusively the cause of the other, to the exclusion of the reverse.

Thus, His words:

“Fear Allah, and Allah teaches you,”

may belong to this category. The Lord’s teaching and the servant’s fear of Him are closely connected: each accompanies and entails the other. Whenever Allah teaches a person beneficial knowledge, fear of Him accompanies it in proportion to that knowledge; and whenever a person fears Him, He increases that person in knowledge, and so it continues.

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As for His words:

“O My servants, all of you are hungry except those whom I feed, so ask Me for food and I shall feed you. All of you are naked except those whom I clothe, so ask Me for clothing and I shall clothe you,”

these entail two fundamental principles: