—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best.”

And the Most High said:

“And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best.”

Even if the opponent of someone who speaks in this manner—whether the speaker is Abū al-Faraj or someone else—belonged to one of the sects most notorious for innovation, such as the Rāfidah, he ought to present evidence and avoid what serves no purpose when undertaking to refute them; let alone (1) when those disputing with him—as he claims—are acknowledged by everyone to be more knowledgeable than he is about fundamentals and subsidiary matters. Yet in his discourse and rebuttal he has presented no evidence whatsoever, whether scriptural or rational. Rather, he has relied on blindly following a group of speculative theologians opposed by a greater number of speculative theologians. He has followed them in what they claimed was rational evidence, just as this objector has done. Anyone who seeks to refute others through reason must set out a rational argument; otherwise, he merely refers people to unknown entities, such as the Rāfidah’s infallible imam and the Sufis’ ghawth.

As for his statement, “Such people are not to be spoken to,” we reply: Allah sent the messengers to all creation to call them to Him. Who among mankind, then, has Allah exempted from being addressed? Let alone those whom you and others know, whom Allah has favored in ways that need not be discussed here. If a foolish person wished to answer this critic with a rebuttal like his own, he would have no difficulty doing so.

Likewise, concerning his statement, “They defy reason,” we say:

Defiance of reason