A third group says:

Rather, actions possess good and bad qualities that warrant praise and blame. Yet Allah does not punish anyone until the message has reached them, as the Quran indicates in His words:

“We never punish until We have sent a messenger.”

And in His words:

“Whenever a group is cast into it, its keepers will ask them, ‘Did no warner come to you?’ They will say, ‘Yes, a warner did come to us, but we denied him and said, “Allah has revealed nothing. You are in nothing but great error.”’”

Allah also said to Satan:

“I will surely fill Hell with you and all those among them who follow you.”

This is the soundest view, supported by the Quran and the Sunnah. Allah describes the deeds of the disbelievers in terms indicating that they were evil, reprehensible, and blameworthy before the Messenger came to them. He also states that He does not punish them until He has sent them a messenger.

His words,

“We never punish until We have sent a messenger,”

constitute evidence against both groups.

Although those who deny that goodness and badness can be known through reason invoke this verse against their opponents, it is also evidence against them. They hold it possible for Allah to punish those who have committed no sin and those whom no messenger has reached. They also hold it possible for Him to punish children and the insane whom no messenger has reached. Indeed, they say that such punishment actually occurs.

This verse is evidence against them, just as it is evidence against those who hold that people are punished on the basis of reason alone, without a messenger having been sent.

The Quran affirms the existence of goodness and badness that may be known through reason, and one may know that this