and other communal obligations.

As for ordinary people, knowledge is not an individual obligation upon them; sound belief suffices for them.”

[Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary]

I say:

The point is that the first group, who said that ordinary people are obliged to possess knowledge, held that they may acquire it directly or through rational inquiry. The second group, who considered belief sufficient, acknowledged that some people acquire knowledge directly, such as the foremost Sufis.

As for his statement that the argumentation in the Quran suffices for the ordinary person, even though it does not secure victory and decisive success, such remarks are made by this man and others like him among the speculative theologians who are ignorant of the true nature of what revelation has brought and what the Messenger was sent with. Some of them even say:

“The demonstrative method is not found in the Quran.”

Their ignorance of the meaning of the demonstrative proofs indicated by the Quran is comparable to their ignorance of the realities described by the Quran. Indeed, their ignorance of the true nature of what revelation establishes—both rational proofs and matters conveyed through revealed reports—is greater than their ignorance of the innovated methods they have pursued and called rational.

In the writings of this man and others like him, I have seen astonishing statements that contradict the plain dictates of reason, while also contradicting sound transmitted evidence and displaying their deficient knowledge of, and faith in, what the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought. This subject is discussed at length elsewhere.