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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2025
[Preamble]
Prodigies of praise and thanks, manifold expressions of gratitude and thankfulness, are due to the court of God's Oneness, for out of all the realities of existence, He singled out the human reality and honoured it with knowledge and understanding, the two most luminous lights in this world, and in the entire creation. Through the effects and products of that supreme endowment, He has painted new images and imprinted wondrous forms on the mirror of creation in every age and dispensation. For if we cast a pure eye upon the realm of existence, it is apparent that in every cycle the body of the world is adorned with a certain quality and splendour and is honoured through the new virtues bestowed upon it through emanations from knowledge and insight.
This great sign of God has no peer in His creation and has been honoured above all created things. The tradition which says, “Before all else, God created reason” bears witness to this fact. From the dawn of creation, it was ordained that reason should be manifest in the human temple.
Pure and blameless is He who has made our world of darkness the envy of the worlds of light, through the radiance of this heavenly bounty. As it is written: “The earth shone by the light of her Lord.” Holy and exalted is He, Who has decreed that the innate nature of human beings should become the source of this boundless grace. As it is written: “The God of mercy taught the recitation of His Word: He created human beings and taught them articulate speech.”
O you who are wise! Out of gratitude for this supreme grace, raise your suppliant hands to the court of the one God, and humble yourselves and be lowly before Him, for we have lived to see the day, in this dispensation, when waves of heavenly power dawn and radiate from the conscience of humanity, so that the flame of the Lord's fire may be rekindled in human hearts.
Every discerning eye will see that all these works, these concepts, knowledge, useful arts and philosophical systems, these sciences, industries and inventions – have all emanated from reason and knowledge.
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