The point is that possibility in external reality is known through actual existence, not merely through the absence of knowledge that something is impossible, as maintained by a group that includes al-Āmidī. Even more far-fetched than his establishing possibility in external reality through possibility in the mind is the approach taken by philosophers such as Ibn Sīnā: establishing possibility in external reality merely because something can be conceived in the mind. Thus, when they sought to establish an entity existing outside the mind that is apprehended by the intellect but cannot in any way be perceived by the senses, they argued from the conception of the unrestricted universal concept of the human being, encompassing individuals existing outside the mind. Yet this establishes only the possibility of such concepts existing in the mind, for a universal exists as a universal only in the mind. How can their methods of establishing possibility in external reality compare with the Quran’s method?

They then draw analogies through these unsound methods, seeking to make people abandon the certain knowledge and rational proofs innate to them, as well as the divine reports about Allah and the Last Day brought by the Messengers. They seek to turn such false propositions and corrupt imaginings into rational principles with which to challenge the signs that Allah sent His Messengers with and revealed in His Books, the truths He made innate to His servants, and what is established by rational proofs admitting of no doubt.

Through their principles, they have corrupted knowledge derived from both reason and revelation. Reason rests on the soundness and integrity of the innate disposition, while knowledge derived from revelation rests on affirming the truthfulness of the Prophets, may Allah bless them. The Prophets, may Allah bless them, perfected both for humanity: they directed people to the rational proofs through which they could attain knowledge of matters accessible to reflection and inference. Alongside this, they informed them of details of the unseen that they could not discover through reflection and inference alone.