based on inference—resources for which the deniers have nothing comparable. The deniers possess only inferential arguments whose invalidity has already been demonstrated. Whoever does not know their invalidity in detail need only know it in general, for they contradict self-evident knowledge and what human beings’ innate dispositions unanimously acknowledge. They also contradict what is contained in the divine scriptures, such as the Torah, the Gospel, and other books. Thus there is the knowledge inherited from the prophets of the Children of Israel and others, together with Muslims’ general knowledge that these arguments contradict the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community and its finest generations, and what the general body of believers and the leading figures of the community, of every category, agree upon.

[The Eighth Argument]

One may say to whoever responds to the scriptural texts in this way:

If you argue from the scriptural texts against someone who denies what you affirm—such as affirming divine decree, if you are among those who affirm it; or affirming Paradise and Hell and the eating, drinking, clothing, and other things found therein, if you are among those who affirm them; or affirming the obligation of prayer, zakat, fasting, and pilgrimage, the prohibition of usury and wine, and other religious ordinances, if you are among those who affirm them—and your opponent says to you, “The apparent meanings you have cited as evidence are contradicted by rational proofs that must take precedence over them,” then whatever answer you give these people is the answer that those who affirm give you.

If you say, “What I affirm is known—known necessarily to be part of the religion,” those who affirm that Allah is above will say to you, “This, too, is necessarily known to us to be part of the religion.”

If you say, “I do not concede this to you,” they will say to you, “Nor does your opponent among the Qarmatians, the philosophers, or the Muʿtazilites concede your claim to necessary knowledge.”