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A group of leading speculative thinkers—versed in theology and philosophy—sought to combine the proofs of both groups. They regarded this as the highest attainment in knowledge and called the “response” with which they answered the philosophers’ arguments “the brilliant response.” They agreed with each of the two groups, thereby falling into error and contradiction because they combined the errors of both. Their arguments thus undermined one another, since the errors of the two groups were utterly contradictory.
Had they instead combined what each group got right, this would have accorded with the scriptural proofs conveyed by the messengers and with rational proofs, such as those to which the messengers directed people. Yet these thinkers departed from what scriptural and rational proofs entail, while imagining that they had attained the pinnacle of rigorous inquiry. In this they followed the example of both groups, for each likewise contravenes what scriptural and rational proofs entail.
The truth is precisely that upon which scriptural and rational proofs concur. This is the position held by the early generations of this community and its leading scholars, who received it from the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—both through what he conveyed and through his teaching and explanation of rational proofs. Yet these thinkers claim that the messengers did not explain this issue, as stated by