lands of yours that we might find if we sought it?" He said: "We have types of sciences, the roots of wisdom, and the arts of gnosis; and of every science, its root and its branches. So, mention which science you wish to learn so that I may make known to you from it what you need." My master said to him: "Mention—may Allah support you—any science you have that is easy to grasp, whose meaning is known, and which benefits its seeker." He said: "We have the Science of Logic (‘ilm al-Manṭiq), which is the first door for beginners and the entrance to the interpretation of what the ancients said; it is the greatest struggle of the ancient wise men. It is said: Aristotle, the disciple of Plato, the head of wisdom and the fountain of life, established it." He asked: "And to what does it lead?" He said to him: "To the science of the ten categories (al-maqūlāt al-'ashr), by the knowledge of which the roots of speech and the names of all originated things are known. Error is known from correctness, the known from the unknown, the neglected from the used. Descriptions, qualities, the branching of speech, the refinement of terms, and the correction of expressions according to the intended meaning are known."

My master said to him: "Indeed, the Messenger of Allah — Exalted Glory — was raised in a time when the dominant trait of its people was eloquence, rhetoric, science, and understanding. Among them were orators and wise men. Allah supported him with a wisdom that surpassed all wisdom, a science that surpassed all science, an understanding that crossed the limit of understanding, and an eloquence that rose above all eloquent ones. He brought the Quran, in which is the clarification of everything, its proof, and its evidence, the science of what was and what shall be of all affairs, and the knowledge of the known and the unknown. Its chapters are concise, its meanings brief, its verses firm, its terms refined, and its surahs detailed. Falsehood does not come to it from before it nor from behind it; a revelation from a Wise, Praiseworthy One. We knew from it the lawful and the forbidden, the obligations and the judgments, the truth from the falsehood, the scholar from the ignorant, the believer from the disbeliever, and the