As for al-Bātiniyya, they are further removed from the pious predecessors and the leading scholars than either of these two groups.

As for those whom he called al-Hashwiyya, if by what he attributed to them he means that faith in the existence of the Lord, Blessed and Exalted, requires nothing more than a report from someone whose truthfulness has not yet been established, then no rational person who understands what he is saying would make such a claim. Still less could this be the doctrine of a group with its own doctrinal position, or of the predecessors and leading scholars of this Ummah. At most, however, one might say that firm conviction that the Lord, Exalted is He, exists suffices for faith, regardless of the means by which that conviction is attained.

People have disputed the nature of firm conviction: Can it exist without knowledge or not? Can faith arise without knowledge of His existence or not? If faith does arise without knowledge, is knowledge of His existence then to be sought or not?

They have also disputed knowledge of His existence: Does it arise without inference and as a gift, or can it be attained only through deliberate effort? There are other questions of this kind, which this is not the place to discuss.

Likewise, there are various ways of knowing the truthfulness of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or of others who convey reports. This is not the place to discuss them. If someone other than the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reports something, the truthfulness of what he says may be known in various ways. It is all the more fitting, then, that the Messenger’s truthfulness, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, should likewise be known. A distinction may also be drawn between one person and another in accepting their truthfulness.

These and similar points are made by those who discuss knowledge.