theological disputation, they were content with the evidence therein for the soundness of their position. Then a group emerged who described the evidence against them in Allah’s Book as equivocal and said, ‘We dispense altogether with reliance on transmitted reports.’ They claimed that the reports brought to bear against them were not sound according to their reason. A number of our imams then spoke on this subject, explaining to those guided to what is right and granted understanding that everything contained in those reports is rationally sound, and that their claim of ambiguity in the Book is rationally unfounded.

When they openly proclaimed their innovations and presented the specious arguments that had deceived the weak, our imams answered them, dispelling those doubts with evidence they themselves accepted as authoritative. Al-Shāfi‘ī did likewise in what we have related from him, because enjoining right and forbidding wrong is obligatory, and because failing to condemn wrongdoing and remaining silent about it leads to corruption and transgression. In earlier times, only the followers of deviant doctrines were known for theological disputation. As for the people of the Sunnah and the community, they relied upon the Book and the Sunnah for their beliefs and did not adopt the designation used by those people.”

He said:

“By his statement, ‘Whoever cloaks himself in theological disputation will not prosper,’ he means only—and Allah knows best—the theological disputation of the followers of deviant doctrines who abandoned the Book and the Sunnah and placed their reliance upon