 The fact is, however, that human beings, created in the form of God’s all-comprehensive name, are always faced with choices. Rational investigation is handicapped in its ability to choose the good over the bad, the right over the wrong, the beautiful over the ugly, the haqq over the bâtil, because, without outside help, it cannot transcend the evanescent images that make up the appearance of the cosmos. It has no access to the ultimate criteria whereby the haqq of things—their reality, truth, rightness, and appropriateness vis-à-vis the Real—can be discerned. In other words, the cosmic and human books cannot be interpreted rightly (bi’l-haqq) without guidance (hudâ) from the Real (al-haqq), the author of the engendering command. Guidance is precisely the function of the prophets, by means of whom God issues commandments and prohibitions. This act of issuing is called “the prescriptive command” (al-amr al-taklîfî), because it sets down principles and directives that need to be followed in order to discern the haqqs of things and act appropriately.