It is well known that knowledge has its methods and means of apprehension, and that human beings possess internal and external faculties. A person senses and witnesses things, then imagines them, conceives of them, and grasps them with his intellect. He draws analogies between what he has not witnessed and what he has witnessed. What a person acquires through these means may be knowledge, or it may be conjecture rather than knowledge. What he says, believes, senses, and imagines may be true or false. Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has not distinguished between one kind of apprehension and another, between one means and another, or between internal and external faculties, accepting some and rejecting others. Rather, what He has rejected without qualification is speaking untruth and speaking without knowledge.

If certain kinds of apprehension or their methods were wholly invalid concerning Allah Most High, or if their judgments were unacceptable, then rejecting them outright would be obligatory, and prohibiting their acceptance without qualification would be imperative, unless the matter were known by some other means. Thus, concerning reports, He said:

“If an evildoer brings you news, verify it.” [al-Hujurāt: 6]

And concerning reasoning by comparison and sound analogy, He said:

“Indeed, Allah commands justice.” [al-Nahl: 90]

“And when you speak, be just.” [al-Anʿām: 152]

“Stand firm for Allah as witnesses in justice.” [al-Mā’idah: 8]

“So that people may uphold justice.” [al-Hadīd: 25]

Since some people's reports cannot be accepted on their sole authority, He commanded that their reports be verified. And since analogy and reasoning by comparison can involve injustice and transgression, by equating something with what is not its like according to revelation and reason, He commanded justice