Thus, in any case, this speaker is to be commended for what he did and will receive reward and recompense for it, provided his intention was good. The person who objects to his action is more deserving of discretionary punishment than he is, for the objector’s words entail impugning Muslim scholars by accusing them of unbelief. Clearly, the former is more deserving of discretionary punishment than the latter, if either deserves such punishment. If, however, each is exercising legitimate scholarly judgment, seeking to obey Allah and His Messenger to the best of his ability, neither incurs any sin.

Whether the speaker was accurate or mistaken in reporting this, it involves no disparagement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The same applies whether or not he produces the cited passage, for producing it serves no purpose: Muslim scholars whose numbers Allah Most High alone knows have expressed views like the one he reported from al-Ghazālī. Some of them are greater scholars than al-Ghazālī, while others are beneath him. Whoever declares these scholars unbelievers deserves punishment by the agreement of the Muslims. Indeed, most Muslim scholars and the majority of the early generations express the same view—even the dialectical theologians.

Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī stated that most Ashʿarīs and Muʿtazilīs hold this view. He mentioned it in Usūl al-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence), as did his associate Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Hājib. They regard this question as a matter of probable rather than certain knowledge, as the master Abū al-Maʿālī, Abū al-Hasan al-Āmidī and others explicitly stated. How, then, can Muslim scholars be declared unbelievers over matters of uncertainty? Or how can the majority of Muslim scholars—or the majority of the early imams and the foremost scholars—be declared unbelievers without any proof whatsoever? Allah Most High knows best.