show [that] this premise is not among the self-evident premises, so that the difficulty is resolved” is not a sound statement, nor does it benefit him or anyone else, whether reflecting independently or debating with another. For someone who immediately knows this premise in his heart, is compelled to acknowledge it, and is innately disposed to it—how could reflection and disputation remove that knowledge from him? He has already conceded that self-evident truths cannot legitimately be challenged by inferential arguments.

The hadith master Abū Mansūr ibn al-Walīd al-Baghdādī stated in his letter to “the jurist Mahmūd al-Zanjānī”: “Abū Muhammad al-Hāfiz al-Harrānī”—meaning “ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Rahāwī”—informed us, saying: We were informed by the hadith master