and al-Ghazālī, al-Rāzī, and others.

These men and others like them initially followed the method they found among the speculative theologians who had adopted the approach of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah. They said—and these are Judge Abū Ya'lā’s words in al-Mu'tamad:

“Once the validity and obligation of rational reflection have been established, the first thing Allah has enjoined upon His rational creatures is the reflection and inference that lead to knowledge of Allah Most High.”

He said:

“It has also been said that the first obligation is the intention to engage in the reflection and inference that lead to knowledge of Allah Most High.”

I say: This is Abū al-Ma'ālī’s position in his al-Irshād. Judge Abū Bakr and others also mentioned it. Judge Abū Ya'lā adopted this position elsewhere, saying:

“The first religious blessing Allah bestows upon the believers—after life—is to create in them the capacity to intend the reflection and inference that establish the existence of properties and their coming into being, and that substances have never been free of them or preceded them in existence, thereby leading one to knowledge of Allah Most High.”

He said:

“It has also been said that the first religious blessing is the creation of the capacity to believe.”