(1) His phrase “the usul” is the plural of asl. An asl is that on which something else is built, whereas a far‘ is what is built upon another. These three are therefore called “foundations,” because every other matter of the religion is constructed upon them; in fact, the whole of the faith revolves around these three fundamentals. His phrase “the servant’s knowledge of his Lord”: the word rabbahu (“his Lord”) appears in the accusative because it is the object of the verbal noun maʿrifa (“knowledge”). In Arabic grammar, when a verbal noun is annexed to its agent—as maʿrifa is here to al-ʿabd (“the servant”)—it governs its object just as the corresponding verb would.