rR BOOK I (fitra) according to which God created man, and “there is never a change in the original nature created by God.”" This is nothing other than the essentials of piety and sin and their general axioms, not their ramifications and extremities. This original nature (fitra)'* is that religion (din) which does not differ according to the differing of eras and all of the prophets agree on it. As He said, Blessed and Exalted, “This, your commu- nity, is one community (umma).”"5 The Prophet said, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, “The prophets are all step-brothers, sons of the same father by different mothers.”'® Blame and being held accountable is jus- tified according to this (natural or constitutional factor) before the missions of the prophets and after them also. As for requital from the third aspect (according to the divine law), it changes with the variations of the eras, and it is linked to the sending of messengers and prophets. This is referred to in his saying, may peace and blessings be upon him, “Indeed an allegory for me and the message with which God has sent me is that of a man who came to a people and said, ‘O people, I saw the army (of the enemy) with my own eyes and I am a simple warner so save yourselves, save yourselves!’ Thus a group of his people obeyed him and set out at nightfall, and they decamped at their leisure and were saved; and a group did not believe him and they stayed in their place, and the army fell upon them in the morning and destroyed and exterminated them.” Likewise is (the case of) the ‘one who obeys me and follows me and what I have brought, and he who disobeys me and disbelieves in what I have brought from God.”"” As for requital from the fourth aspect, it only applies after the sending of the prophets, the clarification of the obscure and the correct propagation of the faith. “Let he who perished (on that day) perish by a clear proof, and Jet he who survived, survive by a clear proof.”"* © Quran 30:30, \ That is, the natural constitution of the entire species. 'S Qur'an 21:92. \© Mishkat, p. 1225. Bukhari Anbiya’ 48, Muslim, Aba Dawid. " Mishkat, p. 40. Bukhari Rigg, 26, I'tisim 2, Muslim. This hadith is also cited in the introduction to the present work, p. 17. Quran 8:42.