that touches on religion does not have to have originated from religion. And to believe that every matter that has combined with Islam is derived from its elements infers that one does not know the character of Islam's elements. For the Book, Sunna, consensus, and analogy, the four elements of Islam, would not give rise to or comprise such matters.

In Short: The idea that the elements are elementary and fourfold originated from the swamp of philosophy, not from the pure mine of the Shari'a. But since philosophy's error entered our forefathers' language, it found a sound bearer. For when they said "they are fourfold," they meant they were apparently four. Or oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, which in truth form the members of bodies, are also four in number.

If you are openminded, consider these evils of philosophy, see how they have captivated minds and cast them into poverty. Bravo to the efforts of freedom-loving modern science, which has overturned tyrannous Greek philosophy with all its four walls. This means that it is certain that the key to the evidences of the Qur'an's verses' miraculousness and the discloser of the secrets of eloquence are to be taken only from the mine of Arabic rhetoric, [^42] not from the workbench of Greek philosophy.

[^42]:Here, Bediuzzaman is making allusion to the masters of rhetoric mentioned above: "Âyâtın delâil-i i'cazının (al-Jurjānī) miftahı (al-Sakkākī) ve esrar-ı belâgatın (al-Jurjānī) keşşafı (al-Zamakhsharī), yalnız belâgat-ı Arabiyenin madenindendir."

Brother! The desire to uncover the mysteries has brought us this far, and we have drawn you along with us. We have annoyed you. And we know that you're very weary. Yet I want to take you on a tour of the Element of Rhetoric and Eloquence and the contents of the Second Article, which is the key to the Qur'an's miraculous inimitability (i'jāz). But beware, don't let the obscure style and wretchedness of the matters' dress put you off. For what makes it complicated is the fineness and value of the meanings. And what makes it wretched and disdainful of outward adornment, is the meanings' essential beauty.