Thus, if one examines evidence that guides—such as the Quran—and is free from Satan’s interference, that examination brings knowledge and guidance. For this reason, the servant is commanded to seek refuge from Satan, the accursed, when reciting. If, however, one examines a misleading argument while believing it to be sound—whether because both its premises, or one of them, contain falsehood, or because its premises are sound but their combination is not—this produces a corrupt belief in the heart. Such is the nature of most of the specious arguments advanced by those who uphold falsehood and oppose the Book and the sunnah, including philosophers, speculative theologians, and their like.

If, then, someone examining evidence must necessarily have something to examine, and examining the conceived matter whose judgment is sought does not itself yield knowledge—indeed, such examination may bring various specious arguments to mind, which he mistakes for evidence because of the heart’s intense thirst to know the judgment concerning that question and to affirm what he has conceived—then the examination that yields knowledge is examination of evidence that guides.

The evidence that guides, in the broadest and unqualified sense, is “the Book of Allah” and “the sunnah of His Prophet.” What the revealed Law has brought concerning the two forms of examination is that which is beneficial, useful, and conducive to guidance: remembering Allah and the truth He has sent down. If someone wishes to examine and reflect upon evidence in general, without specifying a particular question to be answered, this consists in examining the Book of Allah and pondering it, as Allah Most High says:

“There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book.”

“Through it Allah guides those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace, brings them out of darkness into light by His permission, and guides them to a straight path.”

And Allah Most High says:

“And thus We have revealed