Since this is known with necessary certainty, the position of those who oppose his reports with their own opinions is necessarily known to be false on the basis of his religion.

Thus, either a person believes in Allah and His Messenger, believing everything he reported and knowing that it cannot be untrue in reality and that no evidence establishes its falsity; or he does not believe anything the Messenger reported unless he knows it through evidence independent of the Messenger’s report. Whoever does not acknowledge what the Messenger reported except on the basis of independent evidence does not believe in him. Rather, his relationship with the Messenger is like that of jurists with one another: if evidence supports a jurist’s view, he agrees with him; otherwise, he does not.

It is well known that this is the condition of those who disbelieve in the messengers, not those who believe in them. The leaders of these people are those of whom Allah said:

“And when a sign comes to them, they say, ‘We will never believe until we are given the like of what Allah’s messengers were given.’ Allah knows best where to place His message.”

[al-An‘ām: 124]

What this man said concerning reason was also said by another group concerning spiritual unveiling, as Abū Hāmid mentioned in his book al-Ihyā’ (The Revival), when distinguishing between what is subject to reinterpretation and what is not. He stated that revealed texts are not used to establish any knowledge of reported matters; rather, a person knows the truth through a divine light cast into his heart, then measures what is conveyed in