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Most leading theologians and philosophers, both early and late, have acknowledged that most of the methods they pursued concerning divine lordship, through the inferential arguments they devised, do not lead them to knowledge and certainty. This includes their discussions of genus and accident in their arguments and inquiries concerning divine matters.

As for the former, we have mentioned elsewhere the statement of the foremost ancient philosophers that certainty is unattainable in divine matters, and that one can speak of them only in terms of what is more fitting, more likely, and more plausible. Hence, all who have examined these philosophers’ teachings concerning divine matters agree that they consist largely of false conjectures and unsound arguments, and contain little true knowledge.

As for the admissions of the theologians affiliated with Islam, these are numerous. Scholars have collected some of them and recounted how their leading figures renounced their former teachings and repented, either at the approach of death or earlier. This is among the means by which this community receives mercy, if Allah Most High wills, for Allah accepts His servants’ repentance and pardons their evil deeds. This is the sounder of the two opinions concerning the acceptance of repentance from one who propagates such teachings. Yet the continued existence of their statements and books