has engaged in inferential reasoning,’ we say: Tell us, when does inferential reasoning become obligatory for him—before puberty or afterward? As for al-Tabarī, he answered that it is obligatory before puberty.

Ibn Hazm said:

“This is mistaken, because someone who has not reached puberty is neither legally accountable nor addressed by the commands of the Law.”

He said:

“As for the Ash'arīs, they have uttered enormities that make Muslims’ skin crawl, jar the ears, and sever the bond between whoever utters them and Allah. They said: ‘Seeking proofs becomes obligatory only after puberty.’

“They were not content with this statement: they even spared us the trouble by explicitly stating the very implication we intended to confront them with. They said openly: ‘No one’s Islam is made valid by being doubtful and without belief after reaching puberty.’”

He said:

“We have never heard anything more atrocious in unbelief and abandonment of Islam than these people’s statement that no one becomes a Muslim until he doubts Allah, Mighty and Majestic, the truth of prophethood, and whether the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is truthful or a liar. Nor has anyone ever heard anything in the realm of lunacy