and his careful selection of the most reliable narrations for each topic. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of the ḥadiths he cites as proofs are well-known, sound reports, and the few that some scholars have deemed weak are, despite their scarcity, of the type over which the ḥuffāẓ differ—some authenticating them, others declaring them weak—such as the ḥadith of al-aṭīṭ (1). As for the occasional weak report, like the ḥadith, “While the people of Paradise are enjoying their bliss, suddenly a light shines upon them; they raise their heads and behold the Compeller (majestic is He) appearing above them and saying: ‘O people of Paradise, peace be upon you,’” he only mentions it as corroborative evidence alongside other proofs, or brings it up incidentally in the course of a digression.

Ibn al-Qayyim’s mastery of the Quran and the sunnah fortified his arguments, enabling him to reconcile apparently conflicting narrations, weigh them against one another, distinguish the sound from the unsound, and dismantle the specious claims of the various sects and refute their falsehoods. Among his statements that illustrate this are the following:

His words (pp. 500–501): “The questions in which it is alleged that reason clashes with revelation are not among those matters that are self-evident to pure reason, such as arithmetic, geometry, or demonstrably certain natural phenomena. In the Quran and the sunnah not a single letter can be found that contradicts reason in these domains. Whatever is alleged to do so is fabricated and spurious, such as the report: ‘When Allah wished to create Himself He created a horse, set it running until it sweated, and then created Himself from that sweat,’ or the report of ‘His descending on the afternoon of ʿArafah on a gray camel, shaking hands with the riders and embracing the pedestrians.’”

And his words (pp. 1106–1007): “Likewise is the conduct of those who set against the sound, explicit ḥadiths in which the Prophet ﷺ himself spoke the words ‘Where is Allah?’, heard the question ‘Where is Allah?’, and approved the questioner without censuring him—as these people would declare him an unbeliever—so they countered all of these ḥadiths with a fabricated report…"