meaning that whatever Allah deems good is good, and whatever Allah deems bad is bad, and this is the basis they have called “religious goodness and badness,” and according to the view of the Adliyyah, the basis of goodness and badness is not the command and prohibition of Allah; rather, the basis of the command and prohibition of Allah is goodness and badness, and the basis of goodness and badness is the intellect, not Sharia; meaning that Allah has commanded what is good and has prohibited what is bad, and goodness and badness are real concepts that have not originated from the convention of Sharia, and this is the basis they have called “rational goodness and badness.” However, according to what we said, the intellect and Sharia have stemmed from One Origin and return to One Returning Point, which is indeed Allah, in Whose creational and legislative actions there is no contradiction. Therefore, the basis of goodness and badness is the command and prohibition of Allah, except that the command and prohibition of Allah have been represented in two forms: one is the legislative command and prohibition manifested in Sharia, and the other is the creational command and prohibition manifested in the intellect, and since the combination of His command and prohibition in one subject is impossible, the conflict between Sharia and the intellect cannot occur. As a result, the basis of goodness and badness is Allah Almighty.

Second Preliminary: The Impediments to Knowing

Contemplating something that can be known, when done in the light of the intellect, requires knowing that thing; just like looking at something that can be seen, and when it is done in the brightness of light, it requires seeing that thing. However, it often happens that a person contemplates something to recognize its goodness or badness, but does not achieve his purpose, and sometimes achieves the opposite of his purpose, meaning that he recognizes the good as bad and the bad as good;