A spirit from Our command means: what was revealed to him, for creation lives by it in their religion just as the body lives by the spirit. If you say: it is known that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, did not know the Book before the revelation... etc. Ahmad said: When it was believed by al-Zamakhshari that faith is the name of belief combined with many acts of obedience, both actions and omissions, to the extent that it does not include the monotheist who commits even one major sin under the name of faith nor does it include the promise to the believers, he realized the possibility of using this verse to prove the correctness of his belief: he considered it an opportunity to seize and a gain to secure. He distanced the suspicion that he presented the doctrine of the people of the Sunnah in the form of a question to respond to it according to his belief, as if he were saying: If faith is merely monotheism and belief as we, the people of the Sunnah, say, it would necessitate that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, be denied by this verse as being a believer before the mission. Since belief was established for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, before the mission by the agreement of both parties, it follows that the faith denied in the verse cannot be what was agreed upon as being established. At that point, it must be directed to a collection of things, including belief, and including many acts of obedience that were only known through revelation. Thus, the denial of it before the mission is valid. This which he aspired to: he cuts the thorn, but does not reach what he intended. This is because the people of the Sunnah, even though they say that faith is specifically belief so that every monotheist, even if sinful, is described by it—they specify belief in Allah and His Messenger. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is addressed in faith by believing in the message of himself, just as his nation is addressed by believing in him. There is no doubt that before the revelation he did not know that he was the Messenger of Allah, and he did not know that except by revelation. If faith, according to the people of the Sunnah, is belief in Allah and His Messenger, and this collection was not established before the revelation, rather what was established was belief in Allah alone: the denial of faith before the revelation is clear on this straightforward method, and Allah knows best.