and avoiding forbidden acts; being washed and shrouded after death; having the funeral prayer offered over them; being buried in Muslim cemeteries facing their qibla; and inheritance from them. All this requires that they be judged to possess faith and knowledge.”

He said:

“The opponent argues that knowledge, in its true sense, is knowledge of a thing, or knowledge of the object known. This is attained only when the person reaches certainty concerning it. If he is incapable of clearly grasping evidence that elucidates it, or of rebutting and resolving a specious doubt, then he has no certainty concerning what he knows. For a doubt may be raised against what he holds that causes him to abandon his former position, or doubts may occur to him that undermine his confidence in what he holds.

“A person in this condition is deficient in knowledge. Admitting the possibility of such deficiency means that he has not grounded his belief in something capable of adequately fulfilling his purpose and satisfying his aim. For knowledge in its true sense does not admit of division, such that some of it is established while some is not.

“This makes it clear that everyone counted among the common people lacks knowledge in the true sense. Whoever lacks knowledge cannot be accorded the designation to which those who possess knowledge are entitled.”

He said:

“The answer is that what we stated at the beginning of this discussion answers what