and the Cistern and the Balance, and with greater certainty than they know the texts establishing the authority of solitary reports, consensus, and analogical reasoning; and more fully than they know the texts establishing pre-emption, the prostrations for forgetfulness, the prohibition of marrying a woman while also married to her paternal or maternal aunt, the exclusion of a killer from inheritance, and similar matters accepted by the Muslim community at large.
For this reason, the early generations unanimously declared anyone who denied this an unbeliever, since they regarded it as necessarily known to be part of the religion. Yet matters known with necessary certainty to the early generations, the leading scholars, and the scholars of religion may not be known to some people.
This may be because a person turns away from hearing the transmitted evidence concerning the matter. By refusing to listen and reflect, he fails to fulfil a condition for acquiring knowledge; indeed, that refusal itself prevents him from acquiring such knowledge. This is like someone who turns away from looking at the crescent moon and therefore does not see it, although anyone who looks at it can see it. The same happens to someone who does not listen attentively to another person’s words and reflect upon them—especially if he already believes that the Messenger would not say such a thing. His heart then remains without reflection or contemplation of that through which he could acquire this necessary knowledge.
For this reason, many Jewish and Christian scholars believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and that he is truthful, yet say that he was not sent to them, but only to the unlettered people. This is because they have turned away from hearing the mass-transmitted reports and texts showing that he used to say that Allah had sent him to the People of the Book. Indeed, most of them do not acknowledge that Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend, built the Kaaba together with Ishmael, or that Abraham went to that region, despite this being among the most widely mass-transmitted matters—all because they turn away.
Many of the Rāfidah deny that Abu Bakr and Umar are buried beside the Prophet