by that until he testifies that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Then, is the knowledge that is obligatory attainable only through rational inquiry, or can it be attained without it? Is knowledge in its basic form innate and self-evident, or acquired through reasoning? Or is it attained sometimes in one way and sometimes in the other? Must the inquiry that yields it follow one particular method, or is no particular method required? These are separate questions.
Related to this is their disagreement concerning obligatory knowledge: is it attained through reason or revelation? Much of this disagreement is terminological, while some of it is substantive.
With anyone who claims that knowledge can be attained only through arguments based on accidents and composition, or similar innovated methods employed by the Mu‘tazila, the philosophers, and those who agree with them, the disagreement is substantive.
We know with certainty from the religion of the Messenger and the early generations of the Muslim community that this position is false. The Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, never commanded anyone to follow these methods, nor did he make anyone’s faith or knowledge of Allah contingent upon them. Indeed, the Quran describes people who did not follow these methods as possessing knowledge and faith.
When some people introduced certain such methods, the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars condemned this and branded those people as guilty of religious innovation and misguidance.
Furthermore, the assertion that the first obligation is knowledge or rational inquiry is incompatible with