Electromagnetic

Engaging in tafsir of Qur’an 16:125, Avicenna writes:

The Book, which bears no falsehood before or behind it, the revelation of the Allwise and Allpowerful speaks in much the same sense: Call men unto the path of thy Lord [God instructs His prophet] – that is, the true religion – with wisdom – that, by way of proof [burhan, apodeictic demonstration, taken here as philosophical, since "wisdom," is the common term for philosophy] – that is, for those who can handle it – and with fair persuasion – that is, rhetoric, for those who cannot manage philosophic rigor; and engage them in argument with whatever is best – that is, by appeal to the commonly accepted standards of what is praiseworthy and commendable. It mentions dialectic after the other two arts because they are devoted to finding what is beneficial, whereas dialectic is used for criticism. First we must know what is beneficial; only then do we engage in controversy or polemic with those who are committed to opposing it.

Translated by Lenn E. Goodman in Avicenna. London and New York: Routledge, 1992, p. 212. Source in Ibn Sina, Al-Shifa’: La Logique VIII – Rhétorique (Al-Khatabah), ed. M. Salem (Cairo: Imprimerie Nationale, 1954), 1-6.