it admits of degrees? The majority hold that it does. This is the view of most of Ahmad’s followers and other scholars, including al-Tamīmī, al-Qādī, Abū al-Khattāb, and others.

One group maintains that it does not admit of degrees. This is the view of most of al-Ash‘arī’s followers, Ibn ‘Aqīl, and others.

This resembles their disagreement over whether some obligations are more binding than others. Ibn ‘Aqīl and others deny any differences in degree in this regard, whereas most jurists consider such differences possible. This matter is discussed at length elsewhere.

The point here is that, among those who hold rational inquiry and inference to be obligatory for every individual, or who maintain that faith is valid only through them—because knowledge is obligatory and cannot be attained without them—the majority mean the knowledge present in the heart, not its verbal expression. They do not require a person to formulate the proof verbally or to be able to answer an opponent. They maintain that attaining knowledge through proof is within the reach of ordinary people, and that ordinary believers have already engaged inwardly in the inquiry and inference that lead to knowledge, even if they cannot formulate the proof or explain it in words.

This is the case with most things present in the soul, such as knowledge, love and hatred,