Dear Abdallah,
I thank God that your response to my last letter proved to me, contrary to some inner fears, that you did indeed accept the validity of rational thinking in matters of faith, together with your devoted submission to God. I strongly believe it to be of a necessity to stand firmly on both legs in this world of lies and deception. An illustration may help to show what I want to say.
Let one leg symbolise sober and rational thinking. We need to be open-minded, but at the same time ready to test every thought and information input (even our own!), ever keen to scrutinise whatever introduces itself as Truth. This is achieved by checking on the available documentation, references and, above all, evidence to support its claim to originate from a divine source.
Then let the other leg stand as a symbol of your wholehearted devotion to God with an undivided heart, which is our genuine form of worship, love and obedience towards Him. That should not be done without continuous, sincere prayer to God for the right guidance and to enable us to distinguish truth from error.
Standing on one of these ‘legs’ alone, makes us highly vulnerable to fall over, be one-sided or unbalanced. One could easily become unteachable, simplistic and perhaps a fanatic. To protect us from this, God has given us an intellect and the ability to scrutinise, compare and draw conclusions. So let us first honestly investigate the matter of truth and then let us yield ourselves in obedience and worship to the only true God.
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