Rule Fifty-Eight: Perfection becomes evident only when set beside its opposite.

When Allah wills to display the honor of His prophets and chosen servants through their perfect attributes, He places before them those who lack those very qualities, even though they, too, were capable of attaining them. The Qur’an offers many examples:

• When Allah wished to manifest Adam’s superiority over the angels in knowledge, He taught Adam the names of all things, then tested the angels, who proved unable to name them. Adam thereupon informed them of the names, and they humbled themselves before his knowledge, recognizing his virtue and rank.

• When Allah intended to show Joseph’s excellence in the breadth of knowledge and the interpretation of dreams, the king saw a dream and presented it to everyone skilled in that science, yet none could explain it. Joseph then interpreted it with that wondrous exposition which revealed his distinction and honor, compelling people to venerate him in a manner beyond description.

• When Pharaoh opposed the signs with which Moses had been sent and claimed he could bring sorcery that would overcome them, he gathered every accomplished magician from across his realm. The people convened on their festival day, and the sorcerers threw down their staffs and ropes before the vast assembly, displaying marvels of magic: “They bewitched the people’s eyes, filled them with awe, and produced a tremendous feat of sorcery” (7:116). Moses then cast his staff, and before the very eyes of the crowd it swallowed up all their ropes and staffs. This supreme sign became manifest, and the magicians—masters of the craft—were the first to submit to it, both outwardly and inwardly.

• When the people of the earth recoiled from supporting the Prophet ﷺ, while his enemies united against him and devised their greatest plot to seize him, Allah granted him that wondrous victory, for indeed the help—