They say:

“Our knowledge that the Messenger taught Allah’s being above and these attributes is self-evident knowledge of his religion, even more firmly established than our knowledge of mutual imprecation between spouses, the right of pre-emption, the prescribed punishment for false accusations of unchastity, prostration upon recitation, prostration for forgetfulness, and similar matters.

“Since this is known as a self-evident part of Islam, one cannot say that the Messenger did not teach it. Rather, there are only two possibilities: either to deny the Messenger’s truthfulness or to reject these newly devised opposing arguments.”

They say: “Our knowledge of the Messenger’s truthfulness is certain, admitting no doubt. Specious objections challenging it are like those challenging certain rational knowledge. They belong to the same kind of objections raised by the sophists, and we know their invalidity in general without entering into the details.”

There is no doubt that this principle is firmly established in the heart of every believer in Allah and His Messenger. Those who reject the faith may present him with specious objections, using them to challenge what the Messenger brought on numerous points. Yet the believer may have no experience of debating these matters, because he does not understand their expressions or what they mean by them. For example, someone may use terms such as “body,” “substance,” “space,” “hayūlā (matter),” “matter,” “form,” “universal,” “particular,” “quiddity,” and the like before someone unfamiliar with these conventions and technical terms, combining them into an argument that challenges what Allah and His Messenger have stated. The believer knows that this is invalid in general, even if he does not know precisely why it is invalid, especially if he is unfamiliar with the methods of