according to their rulings.
(Puberty, Reason, and Discernment)
The scholars agree that ritual purity is obligatory upon a person of sound mind who has reached puberty, and differ over Islam. In the same way, in our view this purity is obligatory upon the person who understands. This is one who understands from God His command and prohibition and what He imparts to his innermost being. He distinguishes among the passing thoughts in his heart, discerning what is from God, what is from his own soul, what is an angelic prompting, and what is a satanic prompting. Such a one is the human being.
When he has reached this degree of knowledge and discernment, understands from God what He wishes of him, and hears the words of God Most High, “The heart of My servant encompasses Me,” it becomes obligatory upon him to employ this purity in his heart and in every bodily member to which it applies, within the bounds of revealed Law.
The inward purity of sight, for example, lies in looking at things by the standard and with the eye of reflective consideration. He does not let his gaze roam aimlessly. This belongs only to one who has realized the practice of the prescribed purity in all its proper places.
He, exalted is He, said, “In that there is surely a lesson for those who have eyes to see” [Al ʿImran 3:13]. He assigned the lesson to those who have sight, although reflective consideration belongs to those with inward insight. He mentioned outward sight because it is a means of conveying to the inward faculty that which the eye of insight considers. So it is with all the bodily members.
(The Address of Particular Rulings of Revealed Law to Unbelievers and Hypocrites)
The scholars’ question about this purity, whether Islam is a condition for its being obligatory, amounts to asking whether unbelievers are addressed by the particular rulings of revealed Law,
Notes
Translator’s note TN1357-1: The author connects “lesson” (ʿibrah) and reflective consideration (iʿtibār), which share a root. He also distinguishes outward sight (abṣār) from the inward insight (baṣāʾir) to which it conveys what is seen.
