and have made sweeping generalizations, failing to understand the judgment; thus the judgment became obscure to them. They disagreed about how knowledge is attained: through reason, inference, or the Imam?

Some said, “The foundation of knowledge is knowing the Imam.” Others said, “The Prophet’s household,” meaning knowledge of them.

Most imams, scholars, and jurists hold that knowledge means learning and understanding jurisprudence: what is lawful and unlawful, obligatory duties and recommended acts, rulings and sunnahs.

Others said, “It means knowing Allah with certainty, until knowledge of Him becomes firmly established in your heart.”

They also disagreed about when this knowledge arises. Some claim that it precedes inquiry and reflection; others say that it follows inquiry and reflection. Some say that it comes after puberty. Others define it as knowledge of bodies, accidents, and substances, along with much other frequently repeated discourse.

If you adhere to what we have established and explained, it will become clear to you from the discourse itself that the proponents of speculative theology adopted convictions suited to created nature and sought to establish knowledge of Him through servanthood, making that knowledge dependent upon causes. The people of truth adopted convictions befitting lordship and established knowledge of Him on that basis. Lordship is not sullied by causal explanations, nor is it subject to the obscurities of innate dispositions. Allah therefore made His creatures acknowledge Him and called them to know Him directly, so that they would associate no partners with Him in their knowledge of Him and would have no plea.

He, glorified be He, said:

“Lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were unaware of this,’ or say, ‘It was only our forefathers who associated partners with Allah before us.’”

This was because of the necessary knowledge He had imposed upon them. Had He established their knowledge of Him in the state of servanthood—as