His favor upon us, and was pleased with Islam as our religion—He who sent down the Book as a detailed exposition of all things, and as guidance, mercy, and glad tidings for the Muslims: “It is no invented tale; rather, it is a confirmation of what came before it, a full explanation of everything, and a guidance and mercy for a people who believe” (Yusuf 111).

Only someone whose intellect and hearing are impaired imagines that the Book and the wisdom do not contain a clear statement of these matters. Such a person has a share in the lament of the people of Hell who will say, “Had we but listened or reasoned, we would not have been among the companions of the Blaze” (al-Mulk 10). This misconception, however, is rife among many philosophers, dialectical theologians, unlearned hadith partisans, would-be jurists, and self-styled Sufis.

As for the second category—the evidences for these foundational doctrines—some schools of theologians and philosophers suppose that revelation points to them only by way of truthful report, so that its probative force depends entirely on proving the honesty of the reporter, and they treat the grounds for that honesty as purely rational considerations. In this they have fallen into a grave error—indeed, into manifest misguidance—for they assume that the Qurʾan and Sunnah guide solely through bare narration. The truth, rather, is what the early generations and the leading scholars of this community affirmed: Allah Himself has laid out within revelation rational proofs sufficient for this knowledge—proofs whose magnitude none of those people can fathom.

The most that they put forward has already been presented by the Qurʾan in distilled form and in the finest manner, such as the parables Allah, exalted be He, sets forth in His Book, which