and so they became philosophers, while the deluded Sufis relied on their own experiences and became soothsayers. For the philosophers relied on what they claimed was an unveiling of the realities of things, while the soothsayers relied on the disclosures imparted to them. All are rebels against the revealed laws. The former dares to contradict explicit transmitted texts on matters they address, on the strength of what he claims reason necessarily requires. The latter says, ‘My heart told me from my Lord.’

I have begun neither my morning following these nor my evening following those. May any doctrine that came through envoys and messengers cease to be! He means learning the exposition of the revealed laws and the falsity of doctrines, imaginings, and invented paths.

Does the Sufis’ knowledge have any practical bearing on permitting bloodshed or sexual relations, prohibiting a transaction, or issuing a fatwa acted upon in worship or contractual dealings? Do speculative theologians, by virtue of their theology, have a judge whose rulings are enforced in any town or rural district? Or do the deluded arrive at sound fatwas and judgments?

The true people of the Islamic state and the law brought by Muhammad are the hadith scholars and jurists. The former transmit the hadiths of the revealed law, exclude falsehood from transmitted reports, and safeguard those reports against discrepancies. The latter, who issue fatwas, remove from the reports the distortions of extremists and the fabrications of those who promote falsehood. They are the ones whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, called the upright bearers of knowledge, saying:

‘In every succeeding generation, its upright members will carry this knowledge, removing from it the distortions of extremists and the fabrications of those who promote falsehood.’