doubts concerning these matters.

“If any such thought occurs to them, they must engage in rational inquiry and inference to dispel it. They must neither delay nor hesitate to undertake inquiry until they reach the very truth that removes the doubt. If they do not reach it, they have not properly fulfilled the faith required of them. If they are incapable of doing so, their incapacity does not excuse their failure to reach the actual truth.”

He says:

“Another group says: This is not obligatory for them. They may remain as they are and refrain from adopting any belief concerning the matter, while adhering to the Sunnah.”

He says:

“The proof of our position is that we have already established the obligation to know Allah and all other matters of religious knowledge: divine oneness, the truth of prophethood, and the religion. We have explained that genuine knowledge rests only on certain knowledge, and have disproved the claim that accepting the views of others is a path to knowledge. One attains knowledge and certainty concerning these matters only by escaping the doubts that arise, cause uncertainty, and lead away from the truth.

“Since this has been established by the preceding proofs, anyone who claims knowledge while abandoning rational inquiry and inference—which lead to conclusive proof dependent upon the true nature of divine oneness and religious knowledge—is making a false claim. If his claim to knowledge is false, we do not judge him to be a believer, for faith here means assent, and one can assent only to that which dispels doubt and frees one from uncertainty.”

He elaborates on this in his usual manner.

In his large work, which he entitled Minhāj al-hudā (The Path of Guidance), he says:

“Section: Knowledge of Allah and All Other Religious Knowledge Is Acquired, Not Attained through Immediate Certainty.”

He says:

“Several groups, including al-Jāhiz, Sālih Qubba, and Fadl