over the oneness of the One who brought them into existence, His names and attributes, their entrusting all matters of destiny to Him, and their contentment with what He apportioned. Their hearts had been reassured by this, and they had understood the grounds of the proofs to which he, peace be upon him, had drawn their attention when calling them to these matters. Through this, they recognized his truthfulness in everything he told them.

They undertook inquiry and reasoning only in exercising the independent judgment required of them concerning new questions of law as these arose among them, referring them back to the meanings of the foundational principles he had made known to them and whose implications he had pointed out. Their efforts in this—may Allah have mercy on them—produced what has been transmitted to us concerning the method of independent judgment on which they agreed and the methods over which they differed. They did not uncritically follow one another in the conclusions they reached concerning all these matters, for they were charged with, and commanded to undertake, independent judgment.

As for what he, peace be upon him, called them to—knowledge of their having been brought into existence and knowledge