…and angelic in nature. Thus the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was the bravest, the most knowledgeable, the most awe-inspiring, and the most noble of all people. The devils and their followers are the exact opposite: the ugliest of creation in both form and meaning, the most ignorant, and the weakest in aspiration and spirit. (1) Ibn Batta says in al-Ibana ‘an Shariʿat al-Firqa al-Najiya, 2/170-171: “The Jahmi advanced yet another claim to mislead the weak-minded and the uninformed. He said, ‘Tell us about the Quran: is it a thing (shayʾ) or not a thing?’ One cannot answer, ‘Not a thing,’ so it is said, ‘It is a thing.’ He then imagines he has won his case and says, ‘Allah says, “Creator of everything” (khaliqu kulli shayʾ), and the Quran is a thing to which this word applies; therefore it is created, for ‘everything’ includes all things.’” (2) Kaʿb ibn Malik reported: “I never stayed behind the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in any expedition he undertook until the expedition of Tabuk, except at Badr. Yet the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did not reproach anyone who had stayed behind from Badr. He had only gone out intending the caravan, while Quraysh had set out to rescue their caravan; they met without previous appointment, just as Allah—Exalted is He—has said. By my life (wa laʿmri), the most illustrious encounter witnessed by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—among the people is surely Badr …” Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 3102; a sound hadith whose principal version is in al-Bukhari, no. 4418, and Muslim, no. 2769. Al-Bukhari also records in the Book of Tafsir, on Surat al-Hijr, from Ibn ʿAbbas concerning laʿamruka (“by your life”): it means “by your very life.” See Fath al-Bari, 8/379; likewise in the Book of Oaths and Vows, chapter: A man’s saying, “By the life of Allah.”