[Continuation of al-Khattābī’s remarks in al-Ghunya]

Al-Khattābī said:

“Such are their statements and opinions concerning the early generations generally, the majority of the imams, and the jurists of later generations. Do not occupy yourself—may Allah have mercy on you—with their discourse, nor be deceived by the abundance of their assertions: they readily collapse and contain many contradictions. Whatever argument you hear from one of their factions, its opponents have a counterargument that matches it or nearly does so. Every argument meets an opposing argument, and one position is pitted against another. Any advantage one of them gains, or victory he achieves over his opponent, depends only on his eloquence and his skill in the art of disputation and speculative theology.

“Most of their victories over one another consist merely in compelling their opponents, through disputation, to accept implications arising from premises those opponents have adopted, and exposing contradictions in statements they have recorded against them. They demand that their opponents follow these statements through and apply them consistently. Whoever fails to do so in any respect they pronounce unable to respond in debate, declare to be in the wrong, and award victory to his opponent. Yet disputation neither makes truth clear nor establishes proof.

“Two disputants may hold different positions, both of them false, while the truth lies in a third position distinct from either. Thus, one disputant’s refutation of the other does not establish the correctness of his own position, even if