So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light.
