They may be told in reply:

“This is not true. The adherents of the Sunnah and hadith do not reject what the Quran teaches; this is a principle upon which they agree. Allah has commanded examination, drawing lessons, reflection, and contemplation in numerous verses. None of the early generations of this community, nor any of the imams and scholars of the Sunnah, is known to have rejected this. Rather, they all agree that people should undertake the examination, reflection, drawing of lessons, contemplation, and other activities prescribed by the revealed law.

“However, ambiguity has arisen in the use of the expressions ‘rational inquiry and argument’ and ‘discourse.’ They rejected the false inquiry, discourse, and arguments introduced by the speculative theologians, who then assumed that rejecting these necessarily meant rejecting rational inquiry and argument altogether. Similarly, some speculative theologians call what they have devised ‘the foundations of religion.’ This is an exalted designation, yet what it designates contains corruption of religion whose extent Allah alone knows.

“When the adherents of truth and the Sunnah reject this, the proponent of falsehood says: ‘They have rejected the foundations of religion.’ Yet they have not rejected anything that deserves to be called the foundations of religion. They have only rejected what this person has called the foundations of religion. These are names that they and their forefathers have devised, using designations for which Allah has sent down no authority. Religion is what Allah and His Messenger have prescribed, and its foundations and subsidiary teachings have been explained. It is inconceivable that the Messenger should have explained the subsidiary teachings of religion but not its foundations, as we have explained elsewhere. The same applies to the terms ‘rational inquiry,’ ‘drawing lessons,’ and ‘argument.’”

“Generally, these forms of misguidance only find their way to those who do not hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah, as was