As for the conformist, Allah has ordained for him a right in more than one place in the reports, making him a partner in half of your wealth, and that you should give to him, assist him, and not enjoy anything without him—whether in wealth or knowledge, be it little or much. It is not permissible for a believer to be satiated while his brother is hungry. When we saw that Zakat is not obligatory for these two [in the literal sense], we knew that it has an inward meaning [Bāṭin], which is the mandated one. As for the outward Zakat of wealth, Ishaq said: "It is the closest of statements to you in describing the Truth, and it is for that class for whom exiting from actions and sharing is not mandatory; rather, the Outward was established only to point toward the Inward Science."

As for the mandates in the Inward regarding Zakat, its people are "inward-oriented," not "outward-oriented." We knew that there is an inward wealth here upon which an inward Zakat is mandatory for inward people—and that wealth is the Science of Monotheism [‘Ilm al-Tawḥīd]. If they ask: "What is the Inward Zakat on the Inward Science?"

We say to them: Believers are in classes and faith is in degrees. Among them is the weak one for whom the Inward Charity and Inward Zakat are not mandatory. You narrate what clarifies a hadith in the "First Inward" [al-Bāṭin al-Awwal], so you narrate to this weak one five hadiths from it; or from the science that is deeper than that, you narrate to him one hadith for every forty hadiths, according to what he can bear.