proves the truth and the truth’s law in a truly decisive form, so that, like the tree, the mighty universe displays and is the field of operation of that law of truth and mystery of divine oneness.
Thus, the analogies, comparisons, and parables employed in all the Words are in this form and are more powerful and afford more certainty than the categorical proofs of logic.
Answer to the second part of the question: It is a well-known fact that in the science of rhetoric, when the true or literal meaning of a word or phrase is used solely as a means of conveying another meaning, it is called an allusive expression. The literal meaning of a word or phrase defined as allusive is not either true or false; it is the allusive meaning that is such. If the allusive meaning is correct then the phrase is true. Even if its literal meaning is not true, it does not damage the statement’s veracity. If the allusive meaning is not correct while its literal meaning is, then the phrase is false. For example, “So-and-so’s sword-belt is very long.” This phrase alludes to the man’s tall stature. If he was tall but did not have a sword and belt, the phrase would still be correct and true. If he was not tall but had a long sword and belt, then the phrase would be false, since it is not its literal meaning that is intended. [^14]
[^14]:See, al-Qazwīnī, al-Iḍāḥ, i, 301; al-Ḥamawī, Khizānat al-Adab, ii, 263, 265; al-Mawṣilī, al-Mathal al-Sā’ir, ii, 187.
The stories or parables in the Words, for example, those in the Tenth and Twenty-Second Words, are sorts of allusions. The truths at the end of the stories are extremely correct, extremely true, and conformable to reality; they are the allusive meanings of the stories. Their literal meanings are comparisons that bring distant objects close like a telescope and however they may be it does not damage their veracity and truthfulness. Moreover, all those stories are comparisons or parables. Purely to enable people in general to understand, what is properly communicated without words is put into words, and immaterial and abstract matters are represented in material form.
The Third Aim
THIRD AIM
After receiving this decisive and convincing answer to his second question, [^15] the representative of all the people of misguidance was reduced to silence, but then asked the following third question.
[^15]:That is, the question at the beginning of the Second Aim, not the small questions at the end of the Conclusion.
“Phrases in the Qur’an like ‘The Best of Creators’(23:14, etc.), and ‘The Most Compassionate of the Compassionate’(7:151, etc.), suggest that there