uncritical imitation, and weakened by the specious arguments of a stubborn adversary. This is something every fair-minded, discerning person recognizes within himself.

For this reason, the spiritual masters—men of knowledge and insight who follow the most direct path to Allah—have agreed that faith and assent increase and decrease. This is likewise the position of the people of the Sunnah and hadith, in earlier and later times alike. These are weighty questions that can only be discussed at length in a response such as this.