sensory perception, cannot collectively lie or err, so too diverse minds and differing innate dispositions, when they hear something whose falsity and unsoundness are evident to clear reason, cannot all turn away from examining it and reasoning about it so as to recognize its unsoundness and falsity.

For this reason, false doctrines have never appeared in any nation without some among its people recognizing their falsity and discussing it with those they trust, even if they outwardly agree with those doctrines for some purpose.

Thus, you find many among the Rāfidah, Ismā‘īliyyah, and Nusayriyyah who inwardly recognize the unsoundness of their teachings and discuss this with those they trust. Likewise, a great many Christians recognize the unsoundness of Christian teachings, and the same is true among the Jews.

During the first three generations, this community included hypocrites whose number is known only to Allah. Other communities of polytheists and People of the Book lived alongside them, comprising diverse groups. Yet no one can report that, before al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham and Jahm ibn Safwān, anyone was known to maintain that reason conflicts with the Quran’s affirmation of Allah’s highness and attributes, or some of His attributes—whether among the believers, the People of the Book, or any other unbelievers.

It is well known that if this were firmly established in clear reason, then, given abundant motives and incentives, it would necessarily be discovered and deduced. Once discovered and deduced, it would necessarily be voiced, given abundant motives and incentives; and once it is voiced, it must, given