at night to pray, he would say:

‘O Allah, Lord of Gabriel, Michael, and Isrāfīl, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, You judge between Your servants concerning that over which they differed. Guide me, by Your permission, to the truth concerning which they have differed. Indeed, You guide whom You will to a straight path.’”

Allah Most High has told us that the people of the Fire will say:

“If only we had listened or reasoned, we would not be among the companions of the Blaze.”

Thus, error arose in both listening and reasoning. Some people thought they were defending Islam—or the Sunnah—yet came to introduce into Islam—or the Sunnah—things that were not part of it. They lacked sufficient familiarity with the Book—and the early generations’ interpretation of it—the Sunnah, and the statements of the early generations of this ummah to recognize what Allah had sent His Messenger with, as established by scriptural texts and consensus.

This is why we find that most practitioners of speculative theology are among those least acquainted with hadith and the statements of the Companions. They cite hadiths they suppose to be authentic, although they are fabricated falsehoods. Yet other hadiths are authentic and accepted—indeed, hadith scholars unanimously accept them and affirm their authenticity—while they reject them as false or doubt them. Likewise, in matters of reason, we find that they—and others—have