from their true nature. They found in them no healing for the soul, nor did they accept any knowledge with certainty.”

He said:

“When they saw that Allah’s Book spoke against the views they had adopted and testified to the falsehood of their beliefs, they set some of its verses against others. They interpreted them according to whatever occurred to their minds and seemed consistent with the principles they had laid down. They declared hostility towards the reports of Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Sunnah transmitted from him, rejecting them outright. They spoke ill of their transmitters, cast suspicion upon them, accused them of embellishment, and attributed to them weak faculties, poor knowledge of the hadith they narrated, and ignorance of its interpretation. Had they followed a moderate course and stopped at the limits of the authoritative instruction they had received, they would have found the soothing coolness of certainty and repose of heart, and blessings would have abounded,