the Book—and likewise the Messenger—may sometimes convey a report without elaboration, just as they may sometimes issue a command without elaboration; nevertheless, when speaking of Allah Most High, His angels, His Books, and His Messengers, they provide evidence, explanation, guidance, and direction that clarify how the truth of these matters can be known, guiding hearts and directing minds toward knowledge of them. They also present signs and illustrative examples—which constitute rational analogies and proofs yielding certainty—that no practitioner of speculative theology or philosophy can come close to matching, let alone equal or surpass.

Whoever reflects on this will see that no speculative theologian or philosopher has presented a rational method for knowing the existence of the Maker, or anything concerning Him, without the Quran having presented something better, more complete, more beneficial, stronger, and more conclusive—even assuming that what these thinkers present is sound.

[Disagreement over the origin of knowledge of Allah and how it is attained]

One point that clarifies the fundamental issue under discussion here is that people have disagreed over the origin of knowledge of Allah:

Does it arise as necessary knowledge in the servant’s heart? Or is it attained only through rational inquiry? Or is it attained sometimes in one way and sometimes in the other?…

[Those who hold that it is not attained through rational inquiry]

Thus, the view held by many speculative theologians among the Muʿtazilah and Ashʿariyyah, and by those from other groups who agreed with them, including followers of Ahmad, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Hanīfah