Furthermore, however deficient in Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi's view was the knowledge of God Fakhr al-Din Razi obtained by means of theology, the knowledge of God attained on the Sufi way is simi­larly deficient in relation to the knowledge obtained through the legacy of prophethood directly from the All-Wise Qur'an. For in order to attain a constant sense of the divine presence, the way of Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi said: "There is no existent save He," going so far as to deny the existence of the universe. As for the others, again to gain a constant sense of the divine presence, they said: "There is none wit­nessed save He," entering a strange state as though casting the universe into absolute oblivion.

However, the knowledge of God obtained from the All-Wise Qur'an, in addition to affording a con­stant sense of the Divine presence, neither condemns the universe to non-existence, nor imprisons it in absolute oblivion. It rather releases it from its pur-poselessness and employs it in Almighty God's name. Everything becomes a mirror yielding knowl­edge of God. As Sa'di Shirazi said: "To the con­scious gaze each leaf is a book yielding knowledge of the divine."

In everything a window opens up onto knowledge of God.

In some of the Words we have illustrated with the following comparison the differences between the way of the scholars of theology and the true high­way taken from the Qur'an: in order to have water, some is brought from a distant place by means of pipes, digging down under mountains. And some of it is obtained by digging wells everywhere. The first sort is fraught with difficulties; the pipes become blocked or broken. But those who know how to dig wells and extract water can find water everywhere with no trouble.

In exactly the same way, utilizing the impossibil­ity of causation and causal sequences, the scholars of theology cut the chains of causes at the extremi­ties of the world and then they proved the existence of the Necessarily Existent One. They travelled a long road. However, the true highway of the Wise Qur'an finds water everywhere and extracts it. Each of its verses causes water to flow forth wherever it strikes, like the Staff of Moses. Each verse makes everything recite the rule: "In everything is a sign indicating that He is One."

Furthermore, faith is not gained only through knowledge; many of the subtle faculties have their share of faith. When food enters the stomach, it is distributed in various ways to various members. Similarly, after entering the stomach of the mind, the matters of faith that come through knowledge are absorbed by the spirit, heart, inner heart, soul, and other subtle faculties; each receives its share according to its degree. If they do not receive their share, faith is deficient. Muhyi'l-Din al-'Arabi was reminding Fakhr al-Din Razi of this point.