it is breathed through gathering and multiplicity. Within it are the powers of all the Names and spirits, for He said, “We breathed” [al-Anbiya 21:91], with the nun of the plural. Gabriel, peace be upon him, bestowed him upon her, “a well-formed human being” [Maryam 19:17]. He disclosed himself in the form of a Perfect Human Being and breathed. It is the Real’s breathing, just as He says upon His servant’s tongue, “God hears whoever praises Him.”
When these faculties followed it, among them was the reflective faculty, given to the human being to consider through it the signs in the horizons and within himself, so that it might become clear to him thereby that He is the Real. Temperaments differ, so receptivity must differ; reflection must therefore admit differences in degree. Consideration in each intellect must impart something different from what it imparts in another, so that it is distinguished in one matter and shares another with others. This is the cause of the differing doctrines.
(The Ruling of the Revealed Law and Self-Disclosure among Doctrines)
The Lord judges between the adherents of these doctrines through what the revealed Law brings. Intellects remain standing with their proofs, while their differing consideration turns to the materials of the Revealed Law after they had first considered through rational reflection. This applies particularly to believing men and women alone. Those who stand[3] with the Lord’s ruling in this matter between the disputants are the believers. Understanding itself belongs to them, and they differ while agreeing.
Their difference lies in what is understood from that which the Lord has ruled concerning
Notes
[3]
The spelling and word division have been corrected from qālū qufūn to fa-l-wāqifūn, “those who stand,” as in the new edition. (New edition, volume 11, page 205.)
