It has been said about them:

“Have you not seen those who dispute about Allah’s signs, how they are turned away—those who denied the Book and what We sent with Our messengers? They will soon come to know, when shackles are round their necks and chains; they will be dragged through boiling water, then set ablaze in the Fire.”
(Sūrat Ghāfir 40:69–72)

And at the end of the same sūrah He says:

“When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in the knowledge they possessed, and what they had been mocking surrounded them.”
(Sūrat Ghāfir 40:83)

For this reason some scholars have remarked, “This verse encompasses the philosophers.”

In reality, those who engage in philosophy (al-mutafalsifah) are of two kinds:

1. A group that turns away from the message brought by the messengers after it has reached them and the proof has been established against them. Such people are, without a doubt, unbelievers and wretched.

2. A group that believes—both outwardly and inwardly—in what the messengers brought. These are believers and are to be judged as the rest of the faithful. Even so, we cannot accept from them any statement that contradicts the faith. We agree with them only in what accords with the messengers’ teachings, or in matters that do not touch religion at all, whether in affirmation or denial, such as questions of natural science and mathematics.

As for those who adopt the philosophers’ positions that conflict with the revelation, while still venerating the messengers, their laws, and the obligation to follow them—like the philosophers who affiliate themselves with Islam—these people have believed in part of what the messengers brought and disbelieved in part. In this respect they resemble the Jews and Christians. Yet because they believe in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) they are better than the Jews and Christians, whereas the Jews and Christians are, in turn, better by virtue of their belief in what all the messengers agreed upon: worshipping Allah alone, belief in the Last Day, the great resurrection, the return of the bodies, the obligation of the prescribed acts of worship, the prohibition of the forbidden acts, and the affirmation