Thus, knowing that obligatory duties—such as the five pillars of Islam—are obligatory, and that the manifest prohibitions established by mass transmission are forbidden, is like knowing that Allah has power over all things and knowledge of all things, that He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, that the Quran is Allah’s speech, and other such manifest truths established by mass transmission. Hence, whoever denies those practical rulings upon which there is consensus disbelieves, just as whoever denies these doctrinal truths disbelieves. Affirming practical rulings may be more obligatory than affirming doctrinal propositions. Indeed, this is generally the case, for doctrinal propositions require only an affirmation of the broad fundamentals: belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, resurrection after death, and divine decree, both its good and its evil.

Obligatory actions, however, must be known in detail, because acting upon them is impossible without first knowing them in detail. Hence, the Muslim community accepts without reservation those who expound them in detail, namely the jurists, even though it may censure those who discuss the details of broad doctrinal propositions. This is because there is a pressing need to explain obligatory actions in detail, whereas there is no need to elaborate upon the fundamentals in which belief in general terms is obligatory.

Our statement that doctrinal matters may stand on the same footing as practical matters entails several points: (among them, that they comprise both matters of certainty and matters of probability.

And (among them, that although only one person is correct, someone who errs may be pardoned, may incur sin, may be defiantly disobedient, or may be like someone who errs concerning practical rulings