William C. Chittick

All prophets come with messages of furqan, but, given the nature of furqan, which is differentiation and distinction, each message must deal directly with the world of multiplicity and difference. Each must differentiate between right and wrong, true and false, absolute and relative, in specific and particular terms. But the goal of all this is to overcome the error of seeing the many as completely separate from the One.

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Originally published as a chapter of In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought. State University of New York Press, 2011. Republished here with thanks.