love for his Lord, desire for His Countenance, and longing to meet Him, then his pursuit of this field, his eagerness to understand it, his increasing insight into it, and his constant questioning and exploration of it become his greatest objective, his loftiest aspiration, and the most exalted of his goals. No sound heart or tranquil soul yearns for anything more than it yearns to know this matter, nor does it rejoice in anything more than it rejoices in attaining the truth about it.
How, then, can it be imagined—when such a motive exists, and it is among the strongest of motives—that its effect should fail to manifest in the elite of the ummah, the leaders of knowledge and faith whose ambitions are the noblest, whose aims are the loftiest, and whose souls are the purest? How could it be supposed that they would turn away from so great a matter, be heedless of it, speak incorrectly about it, or hold a false belief concerning it?
It is impossible that the disciples of the Muʿtazilah, the heirs of the Sabians, and the fledglings of the Greeks—who have testified against themselves to being perplexed, doubtful, and devoid of the knowledge that brings serenity to the heart, calling Allah and His angels to witness to that (1), and whose own admission has been affirmed by the witnesses among the followers of the messengers—should be more knowledgeable about Allah, His names, and His attributes, or better acquainted with Him, than those whom Allah and His Messenger have proclaimed to possess knowledge and faith, and whom they have preferred above all who came before them and all who will come after them until the Day of Resurrection, save only the prophets and messengers. No one would say such a thing except a dull-witted ignoramus who has failed to appreciate the rank of the early generations and who does not know Allah, His Messenger, or what he brought.
Our Shaykh (2) said: “These innovators—who preferred the way of the later generations over that of the early ones—were led astray (3) only because they imagined that the way of the early generations was merely…"