At best, if he states his position in the most favorable terms, he can only portray the Messenger as reporting matters contrary to their true nature for the benefit of the common people.
Once he says this, however, he can no longer use the Messenger’s reports as evidence for anything, and the matter returns to its starting point. For allowing the possibility of deception in the Messenger’s reports is like allowing the possibility that he lies. In that case, the mere fact that the Messenger reports something would not yield knowledge that what he reports is true. Although this constitutes heresy, unbelief, and religious deviation, it is also false in itself, as has been explained elsewhere.
[Those Addressed in This Book]
In this discussion, we address only those speculative theologians who speak of a conflict between proofs drawn from transmitted revelation and reason, claim to be true Muslims, and mislead those who believe in Allah and His Messenger.
As for someone who openly states his actual position, saying: “The words of Allah and His Messenger provide no knowledge of the unseen, no basis for affirming the reality of what they report, and no knowledge of Allah, His names, attributes, and acts, His angels, His Paradise and His Hell, or anything else”—his position calls for a separate discussion.
People fall into several categories in this regard:
Some affirm what transmitted revelation conveys concerning the Hereafter, but not concerning Allah’s acts and attributes.
Some affirm it concerning certain matters of the Hereafter, but not others.
Some affirm it concerning certain divine attributes and the Hereafter in its entirety, but not concerning the divine acts and certain other attributes.
Some affirm the reality of none of these things, whether concerning the divine attributes or the Hereafter.
Some do not affirm it even with regard to commands and prohibitions. Rather, they pursue reinterpretation of both reports and commands because, in their view, reason conflicts with them, as did the esoteric Qarmatians.
These are the most extreme of people in unbelief and religious deviation.