which contained various questions and objections. I wrote a response to these, elaborating it over several volumes.

Then I realized that these objectors lacked the independent mastery of this subject possessed by the leading philosophers and speculative theologians. Merely answering them would therefore not meet the needs of seekers of knowledge. The legacy of speculative theology contains specious arguments opposed to the Book Allah has revealed, until the Sunnah came to mislead as many virtuous and discerning men as Allah willed concerning this subject. Such confusion and ambiguity arose that most people were left bewildered.

Our opponents sensed that they were incapable of the debate conducted among people of knowledge and faith. They therefore turned instead to the ways of ignorance, injustice, and slander, confronting the people of the Sunnah with whatever physical and verbal aggression lay within their power, much as they had subjected them to ordeals in earlier times.