gnosis, and strength of certainty." The youth asked: "What is the first obligation upon the believer?" The Noble One said: "The gnosis of Allah — Exalted Glory —." He asked: "Is it permissible for the product to know its producer?" The Noble One said: "No." He asked: "So the creature does not know its Creator?" The Noble One said: "If the creature is an inanimate object, it is not permissible for it to know its producer." The youth asked: "And if it is moving, sound of senses, and speaking?" The Noble One said: "If it is rational (‘āqil), it is permissible for it to know its Creator, because Allah — Exalted Glory — only grants His gnosis to a rational one, and Allah is only worshiped through the intellect." The youth asked: "By what is the rational one inferred?" The Noble One said: "By his actions." The youth asked: "Where is science in that?" The Noble One said:

We were related from our Master Ja'far ibn Muhammad — Exalted Glory — that he was asked about the rational one: who is he? He said: "He is the one who understands from Allah His command and His prohibition, so he acts according to what Allah commanded him and desists from what He forbade him. Whosoever is not thus is not rational."

The youth asked: "And where is [the guidance] for that?" The Noble One said: "In what the Messenger of Allah — Exalted Glory — commanded us and what he forbade us." The youth said: "Mention something of that to me so that I may act by what Allah commanded and desist from what Allah forbade." The Noble One said: "Allah — Exalted Glory — said: «And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from»¹. Thus Allah — Exalted Glory — taught us by what He said in His Book that obedience is to His Messenger — Exalted Glory —, as is acceptance and returning to his command and prohibition. Allah — Exalted Glory — said: «He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah; but those