and would have called his community to it,” as Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Adhramī al-Azdī stated during his debate with the judge Ahmad ibn Abī Duʾād in the presence of al-Wāthiq.

The scholars of the Sunnah also used this argument to refute those who claimed that proving the existence of the Creator—glorified be He—by establishing the existence of accidents and their temporal origination was an obligation without which faith could not be attained, and other similar claims.

In brief, discussion varies according to the situation. If someone is resisting a person who seeks to compel him to adopt a religious innovation, commands him to do so, and calls him to it, he can hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah and say:

“I will accept only a call to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger.”

Indeed, this is obligatory in all circumstances. Whoever calls people to anything in religion that has no basis in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger is calling them to innovation and misguidance. When a person holds fast to the Book and the Sunnah, whether reflecting on his own or debating with others, Allah guides him to His straight path. The revealed law is like the Ark of Noah, peace be upon him: whoever boards it is saved, and whoever stays behind drowns. Allah Most High said:

“This is My straight path, so follow it, and do not follow other paths, lest they separate you from His path.” [al-Anʿām: 135]

And Allah Most High said:

“Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and do not follow other protectors besides Him.” [al-Aʿrāf: 3]

And “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say in his sermons that the truest speech is the speech of