Third radiance: The wise Qur’an informs all people, regardless of time, place, or level of understanding, of God, Islam, and belief. Therefore it has to teach each group and level in an appropriate manner. As people are very diverse, the Qur’an must contain enough levels for all of them. I will illustrate this briefly by pointing out a few minor points.

 From Surat al‑Ikhlas:

He begets not, nor was begotten. And there is none comparable to Him. (112:3‑4)

Ordinary people, the majority of humanity, understand that Almighty God has no parents, children, wives, and equals. Those having relatively higher levels of understanding will infer that the verses reject Jesus’ supposed (by Christians) Divine sonship and divinity, and the divinity of angels and all beings who beget and are begotten. Now, since rejecting a negation or an impossibility is useless, according to the science of eloquence, it must have another important, useful import. As God does not beget and was not begotten, this rejection must serve another purpose: Whoever has parents, children, and equals cannot be God and so does not deserve worship. This is one reason why Surat al‑Ikhlas, from which the above verses are quoted, is of such great use for all persons at all times.

Those with a higher degree of understanding derive the meaning that Almighty God is free of all relationships with the creation that suggest begetting and being begotten, and that He has no partners, helpers, or fellow deities. He is the Creator, and everything and everyone else is the created. God creates with the command “Be! and it is” and through His eternal Will. He is absolutely free of every quality suggesting compulsion or obligation, and unwilled, unintended action, for these would be contrary to His absolute perfection.

Another group with an even higher level of understanding infers the meaning that Almighty God is eternal, without beginning or end, and is the First and the Last. He has no equals, peers, likes, or anything similar or analogous to Him in His Being, Attributes, or acts. However, to make His acts understandable, the Qur’an allows us to have recourse to proper comparisons. You may compare to these understandings the views of those with perfect knowledge and love of God, and most truthful, pains‑taking scholars.

 From Surat al‑Ahzab:

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men. (33: 40)

Ordinary people understand that Zayd, the servant of God’s Messenger and whom he had adopted as his son, divorced his wife Zaynab because he found her superior to him in virtue. By God’s command, God’s Messenger then married her. Therefore the verse says: “If the Prophet calls you ‘son,’ this is because of his mission as Messenger. Biologically, he is not the father of any of your men, which would prevent him from marrying one of your widows.”

A second group derives this meaning: “A superior treats his subjects with fatherly care and compassion. If that superior is both a worldly ruler and a spiritual guide, his compassion will be far greater than a father’s. His subjects consider him a real father.” Since this may cause people to have difficulty in seeing the Prophet, whom they consider more fatherly than a father, as the husband of their women, the Qur’an corrects this view: “The Prophet considers you with the view of Divine compassion and treats you as a father. You are like his children from the viewpoint of his mission. But he is not your biological father, which would make it improper for him to marry one of your women.”

A third group understands that merely because of their connection with the Prophet, as well as their reliance on his perfections and fatherly compassion, believers cannot believe that their salvation is assured even though they commit sins and errors. (For example, some Alawis do not perform the prescribed prayers and say that their prayers have been performed already. Christians delude themselves that Jesus sacrificed himself for their salvation, and so rely on their leader’s or guide’s perfections and are lazy when it comes to observing religious commandments.)

A fourth group deduces a prediction: The Prophet will not have a son to continue his line. His sons will die young. As expressed by men, that is, as he will not be the father of men, he will be the father of daughters. Thus his line will continue through his daughter. All praise be to God, the blessed children of his daughter Fatima, his two grandsons Hasan and Husayn, the “light‑giving moons” of the two illustrious lines, continue the line of the Sun of Prophethood both biologically and spiritually. O God, bestow blessings on him and his Family.