to say, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” while their knowledge would be immediate.’

He said:

“Others among our scholars said: ‘They are believers but do not possess knowledge, for knowledge has a definite reality. If it is present, we judge that they possess knowledge; otherwise, we do not.

Knowledge is knowing a thing as it actually is, in a manner that cannot be undone or dislodged. If a specious objection arises, the person is neither shaken by it nor cast into doubt.

Such knowledge rests upon a method that yields knowledge. This is not the case with ordinary people. Although they believe a thing to be as it actually is, they become doubtful when a specious objection is presented to them, since they cannot refute it through a method upon which knowledge rests. Rather, they counter such objections by following their forefathers and through the partisanship in which they were raised. This does not yield knowledge.

If someone says, however, “Knowledge has been attained without following one’s forefathers or relying on imitation,” then he truly possesses knowledge, as do the leading Sufis, for their knowledge is immediate.’”

He said:

“As for his assertion that ordinary people engage in rational inquiry, we reply: By my life, all that is merely the beginnings of rational inquiry; they have not reached its ultimate conclusion. They stop at only one side of the matter, for they say: ‘The world has a beginning, and it may be