Chapter Thirteen

Warning 2

The commands and prohibitions are divided into four, and each division varies

Know, O inquirer, that he who does not know the manner of the realities of commands and prohibitions will never be a Knower [Arif], just as he who does not follow the commands nor refrains from the prohibitions will never be Sensible [Aqil].

We have found many narrations commanding the establishment of the Outward Limits [Al-Hudud al-Zahira] and many narrations forbidding them.

This points to an Inward Meaning that every believer must know, so that he may be among the people of Insight [Basira] and not among the people of doubt and confusion.

Just as the command and prohibition encompass obedience and disobedience, the knowledge of them guides the seeker toward Disbelief—to avoid it—and toward Faith—to follow it.

Indeed, he who knows their explanation, acts upon what Allah the Exalted has commanded, and refrains from what He has forbidden, will have known the Truth and followed it, and the Falsehood and avoided it.