"If dhikr represents both the function of the prophets and the proper human response to the prophets, guidance (huda) represents the divine attribute that is embodied in the prophets. It sums up in a single word both God's motivation for sending the prophets and their activity in the world. If the opposite of dhikr is forgetfulness and heedlessness, the opposite of guidance is misguidance (idlal) and leading astray (ighwa). Just as the prophets incarnate God's guidance, so also the satans incarnate the quality of misguidance and error...Besides Satan, others are also said to be the source of misguidance. Among these is caprice, which we have already met as the worst of all false gods: "Follow not caprice, lest it misguide you from the path of God" (38:26)."
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Philosophers from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesTranslators from the United StatesMuslims from the United StatesIslamic scholars
Original Language: English
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The Vision of Islam (1994) p. 138-139.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Chittick
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William Chittick
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