is dependent, passive knowledge. Our knowledge of what depends on our knowledge—such as the actions we intend to perform—is active knowledge on which its object depends, and is a cause of that object’s existence.

Likewise, Allah’s knowledge of His sacred Self follows its object without affecting it. His knowledge of His creatures, however, is knowledge on which they depend, and through it Allah created creation, as He, the Exalted, says:

“Does He who created not know, when He is the Most Subtle, the All-Aware?”

For will necessarily entails knowledge in every being that wills, just as these attributes necessarily entail life. There can be no will without knowledge, and neither will nor knowledge without life. It may, however, be permissible to say that all knowledge follows and corresponds to its object, whether or not it is a cause of that object’s existence. Thus, the speculative theologians’ unqualified formulation would be better and more accurate than the philosophers’ unqualified claim that all knowledge is active and that its object depends on it.

I can only suppose that the rational members of both groups intend a sound meaning, seeking to express what they have conceived. The former consider how knowledge follows and corresponds to its object; the latter point to an aspect of the merit of knowledge in general: it may affect its object and other things and be a cause of them, and all created things came into existence through Allah’s knowledge.

A person’s knowledge of what constitutes truth or falsehood, guidance or misguidance, sound judgment or error, truthfulness or lying, and righteousness or corruption in his beliefs, intentions, words, deeds, and the like combines both characteristics. Indeed, most knowledge—or all of it—combines these two aspects. This is why faith is speech and action: the speech and action of the heart, and the speech of the body