The third point concerns his statement:

“The other hides behind the doctrine of the early generations.”

If by “hiding” you mean concealing adherence to the doctrine of the early generations, the response is this: that doctrine is kept concealed only in lands dominated by people of religious innovation, such as the lands of the Rāfida and the Khawārij. An oppressed believer there may conceal his faith and his adherence to the Sunnah, just as the believer from Pharaoh’s household concealed his faith, and as many believers concealed theirs while living in the territory of war. If these people are in a land where you wield authority, and they have concealed their adherence to the doctrine of the early generations, then you have condemned yourself, since you belong to a group among whom that doctrine must be concealed. If you yourself are among the oppressed who conceal their adherence to it, there is no sense in condemning yourself. If you belong neither to them nor to the ruling elite, there is no justification for condemning people by describing them as “hiding.”

If, however, by “hiding” you mean that they use it as a shield, protect themselves from others through it, and openly profess it, so that when one of them is addressed, he says, “I follow the doctrine of the early generations”—and this is what he intended, and Allah knows best—then the response to him is this:

There is no fault in someone openly professing the doctrine of the early generations, identifying with it, and declaring his allegiance to it. Rather, by unanimous agreement, this must be accepted from him, for the doctrine of the early generations can only be true.

If he conforms to it both inwardly and outwardly, he is like the believer who follows the truth both inwardly and outwardly. If he conforms to it only outwardly, but not inwardly, he is like the hypocrite: his outward profession is accepted, and his inner state is left to Allah. We have not been commanded to probe people’s hearts or cut open their bellies.