Since the most accomplished people in every field of knowledge have mastered it without these laboriously devised definitions, the claim that knowledge depends on them is invalid. As for the knowledge possessed by people who do not write books, only Allah can encompass its extent. They possess insights, unveilings, precise understanding, and knowledge that the proponents of these laboriously devised definitions do not possess. How, then, could knowledge of things depend on such definitions?

The fourth argument:

Allah has endowed human beings with outward and inward senses through which they perceive and know things. Through hearing, sight, smell, taste, and outward touch, a person acquires the knowledge these senses afford. Through what he witnesses and perceives within his own soul and heart, he also comes to know things greater still. These are the means by which things are known. Words alone, however, cannot conceivably convey knowledge of individual things except through analogical comparison or combinations of words. Neither of these provides a conception of a thing’s real nature.

The point is that if someone has conceived of a thing’s real nature through his inward or outward faculties, he has no need of a verbal definition. If he has not conceived of it through these faculties, he cannot conceive of its real nature through a verbal definition. This is something perceptible that a person finds within himself. For anyone who is familiar with things perceived through taste