is firmly established among the fundamental tenets of the faith and the foundations of religion. They also claim to possess something esoteric that distinguishes them from everyone else and is exclusive to them. Yet they curse one another, hate one another, and disagree with one another. I have seen and heard countless instances of this, just as Allah said concerning the Christians:

“And from those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ We took their covenant, but they forgot a portion of what they had been reminded of. So We stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection.”

And He said concerning the Jews:

“And We cast enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection. Whenever they kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it.”

The same applies to the theologians who muddle together different positions. At times they side with the Muslims—even if they are innovators—and at times with the Sabian philosophers. At other times they side with the polytheistic unbelievers. Sometimes they weigh the different factions against one another and wait to see which side will prevail; sometimes they remain bewildered between them. This last group has become numerous among those who profess Islam, including scholars, rulers, and others, especially when the polytheistic Turks gained ascendancy over the lands of Islam in the East during the seventh century AH.

Many of those who professed Islam harbored such hypocrisy and apostasy that the polytheists and the People of the Book were given power over Muslim lands. Thus, you find Abū Abd Allāh al-Rāzī questioning whether proofs expressed in words establish certainty and whether transmitted reports yield knowledge. These are the two premises underlying heresy, as we explained earlier.

Then, in those matters of Islam that he does affirm, he relies on what is necessarily known to belong to the religion of Islam, such as acts of worship and manifest prohibitions. Likewise, regarding the affirmation of bodily resurrection—after examining Quran commentaries and hadiths—he regards knowledge of it as derived from many sources. Thus he does not engage in negation in the manner of