with reasoning of this kind, let alone give it precedence over that teaching. How much less so when sound reason agrees with what the Messenger brought, as has been explained elsewhere! Indeed, reasoning of this kind may not even be used to challenge rulings established through general formulations, analogical reasoning, apparent textual meanings, and reports that fall short of mass transmission. How, then, could it be used to challenge texts reliably transmitted from the infallible Messenger?

Such reasoning cannot yield even a probable judgment, let alone certainty. It is merely lengthy discourse, couched in long-winded expressions and varied classifications, which intimidates those who do not understand it. Most who accept it do so by imitating those who advanced it before them, not through any rational examination they have themselves undertaken.

The statements of the early generations and the imams condemning this kind of reasoning—in which accidents and substances are used to argue that bodies came into existence and to establish the existence of the Creator—are numerous and widely known. They have been recorded elsewhere.

Anyone who examines the matter closely and understands its true nature knows that the early generations were more deeply learned than these people, more righteous in heart, and less given to contrivance. They understood realities that these opponents of theirs did not understand; they accepted the truth and rejected falsehood. And Allah knows best.