and its action. Whoever knows Allah loves Him: his knowledge of Allah follows its object, while his love of Allah follows that knowledge. Whoever knows Satan hates him: his knowledge of Satan follows its object, while his hatred follows that knowledge. Likewise, knowledge in general necessarily produces some effect in the knower, whether love or something else. Even the Lord’s knowledge of His sacred Self—glory be to Him—is followed by attributes, words, and acts relating to His sacred Self.
Thus, all knowledge is followed by some state and some action; in this respect, it is something upon which other things depend, and is influential and active. All knowledge also corresponds and conforms to its object, whether that object is independent of it or owes its existence to it; in this respect, knowledge is dependent, passive, and corresponding to its object.
Although all knowledge has an effect, that effect need not be upon its object. Someone who believes in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and consequently loves Allah, His angels, His prophets, and Paradise, and hates the Fire, does not thereby have knowledge that affects its object. Rather, it affects his love and desire for that object, or his hatred and aversion toward it.
Although all knowledge corresponds to its object, the object may be present in the knower’s mind and conception before it exists externally, as when a person conceives of his own words and deeds. Alternatively, it may exist externally before a person conceives of it and knows it, or without his conceiving of it at all. This distinction gives rise to the division mentioned earlier: knowledge that affects its object and knowledge that does not, and knowledge that depends on its object and knowledge that does not. This holds even though all knowledge has an effect on the knower himself, and even though