which uncertain and unaided, at the behest of whim and caprice sometimes scatter light and sometimes darkness, and are subject to change.

The Fourth: Since each being is a sample of reality, its duty is to direct minds towards truths and to encourage them and admonish them. For instance, the heavenly bodies, both lofty and lowly, are distinguished by being the subject of oaths in the Qur'an, and constantly exhort the heedless to ponder over themselves. Yes, the Qur'anic oaths are a rap over the knuckles for those drifting in slumbers of heedlessness.

We have now established this to be the case, so it should in no way be doubted that the Guiding Qur'an, which is inimitable and whose eloquence is of the very highest degree, will choose the most appropriate styles of Arabic and the most direct, the clearest, and the shortest method of deductive reasoning. This means that to an extent it will take into account the feelings of the masses in order to get them to understand and to guide them. So it will mention the universe's order, which forms the evidence, in a way that is familiar to them and known by them. Otherwise the evidence would be more obscure than the thing claimed, and that would be contrary to correct methods of guidance, eloquence, and inimitability.

For example, if the Qur'an had said: O people! Behold the globe ecstatically whirling in space, and the sun stationary in its settled abode although it is in motion, and the power of gravity holding the lofty bodies together, and the chemical reactions between the many elements, the tree of creation the branches of which spread through infinite space; ponder over these and envisage the sublimity of the world's Maker. Or peer through microscope of your mind at a drop of water, for it contains a world of organisms despite its small size, and affirm that the cosmos' Maker is powerful over all things.

The evidence would surely then be more obscure than the thing claimed and more in need of explanation. Is that not so? And would it not be unreasonable to elucidate the truth with something that is unknown to them or to confuse their honest emotions with sophistries? The Qur'an's miraculousness is so elevated and free of fault,