And does the free intellect and the sound logic accept that we explain the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: [“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of dark mud and he found near it a people.”] ¹ that the sun sets in a spring possessing dark mud, and it is the black clay, and that near the spring is a people disbelieving? And how is it for those people to endure the burning heat of the sun without it melting them completely? Then what is the meaning of Gog and Magog? And is the matter as the people of The Exoteric (Al-Zahir)explained it, that they are two tribes, among whom is the dwarf in his shortness and among whom is the giant in his height? And is the matter as the people of The Exoteric (Al-Zahir) say, that the meaning of His saying, the Exalted:[“Thus, and We will marry them to fair women with large, [beautiful] eyes.”] ² is that there is in Paradise a physical marriage? And the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: “Is the description of Paradise, which the righteous are promised, wherein are rivers of water unaltered, rivers of milk the taste of which never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and rivers of purified honey,

in which they will have from all fruits and forgiveness from their Lord, like that of those who abide eternally in the Fire and are given to drink scalding water so it tears at their intestines?”] ³ , is that in Paradise there are sensory enjoyments of food, drink, and their like?

And does the reality accept the like of this erroneous explanation? Indeed, life in Paradise is a spiritual life, not a material one, and the enjoyment in the afterlife is an abstract enjoyment, not a sensory one. Indeed, material bliss and sensory enjoyment are in this worldly life in which we are now, not in the afterlife life to which one becomes destined. Indeed, the afterlife differs from the world in word and in meaning, so how is it for us to say the unity of life and the similarity of living in both of them? Indeed, life in a single abode of them is dependent upon its nature only.

Because of this erroneous explanation and crooked speech, foreign scholars and philosophers began targeting Islam and the Quran; as for the objective ones among them, their criticisms were directed toward the commentators and explainers among the Muslim scholars.