[On Delving into the Fundamentals of Faith]

He replied: All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

As for the first issue, the questioner says: “Is it permissible to engage in those questions regarding the fundamentals of the religion about which people have spoken, when no statement from our Master Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—has been transmitted on the matter, or is it impermissible?” This question arises only because of the newly invented, false constructs that have appeared.

The questions that truly belong to the fundamentals of the religion—the religion with which Allah sent His Messenger and revealed His Book—may never be described as lacking any transmitted statement from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. To claim otherwise is self-contradictory. For if a matter is indeed one of the fundamentals of the religion, that very fact means it is among the most important parts of the faith and something the religion needs. To then deny that the Messenger addressed it necessarily leads to one of two conclusions:

1. Either the Messenger neglected vital matters required by the religion and failed to clarify them, or
2. He did clarify them, yet the community failed to transmit his clarification.

Both conclusions are categorically false. Such a claim is among the gravest accusations that hypocrites level against the religion. Only a person ignorant of the realities contained in what the Messenger brought, or ignorant of the truths that people grasp with their hearts, or ignorant of both, could imagine such a thing.

For his ignorance of the first causes him to remain unaware of what that encompasses of