knowing that there is no god but God[5] enters the Garden.” He did not say “believing” here, for faith depends upon a report. He has said, “We would not punish until We had sent a messenger” [al-Isra 17:15].
We know that God had servants who lived in intervals between messengers and knew His oneness. The summons of the messengers before the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, did not extend to everyone so as to make faith incumbent on the people of every age. Thus his statement encompasses all who know the oneness of God. It encompasses the believer insofar as he knows it through a truthful report that yields knowledge, apart from the aspect of faith, and it encompasses the nonbeliever who knows it as well.
(The Ranks of Knowledge That Precede Assent to the Messenger)
Faith can only come into existence after the messenger has come. The messenger cannot be established as such until the person who reasons and inquires knows that there is a deity and that this deity is one. That is indispensable. The messenger is of the same kind as those to whom he is sent. An individual of that kind can only be singled out from the others in the absence of a rival, namely a partner. The inquirer must therefore know the oneness of the One who sent him, God Most High.
This must also be preceded by knowledge that this deity is such that He can send a messenger by virtue of a particular relation distinct from His Essence. The inquirer may then examine whether this messenger speaks truly in claiming to be a messenger from God, for he knows that this is possible.
These are intelligible ranks of knowledge, knowledge of some depending on knowledge of others, and
Notes
[5]
(In the quotation of the report, the phrase was corrected to “Whoever dies” by comparison with the newer edition.)
Translator’s note TN1316-1: The correction in source note 5 concerns the opening of the report at ID 1315. The argument distinguishes knowing divine oneness, whether by proof or by a truthful report, from faith as assent to a messenger.
