This is comparable to someone who has been given a description of a city’s government and its various features, then travels there and witnesses some of its affairs, which indicate to him that the informant is truthful concerning what he has not witnessed. I do not regard this witnessing alone as sufficient confirmation, for an informant may be believed on some points yet be mistaken on others. Rather, this confirmation comes through the informant’s report—that is, the Messenger of Allah—and through witnessing in him what establishes that he cannot lie, as explained elsewhere.

You may ask:

“What initially establishes for him the soundness of faith in Allah and His Messenger, so that this becomes a foundation upon which he builds and proceeds to what follows?

“Those who follow syllogistic reasoning and spiritual experience have laboured so long precisely to establish this foundation within themselves. Hence, speculative theologians call everything that establishes divine lordship and prophethood matters of reason and theoretical inquiry, whereas the others call them matters of spiritual tasting and experience. They hold that whatever is indispensable to knowing Allah and His Messenger must itself be known beforehand; otherwise, circular reasoning would result. They therefore classify these as rational matters, and rational matters can be attained only through rational, logical syllogism.”

I reply: This can be answered in several ways.

First, the same objection can be raised in return. How does someone following the path of syllogistic inquiry, or pursuing spiritual tasting through the will, initially know that following this path will yield knowledge and understanding? At the outset, he has nothing beyond someone’s report that he followed this path and attained his goal, or a thought arising in his heart to follow it—whether merely considering attainment possible, actively seeking it, or otherwise—or simply beginning to follow it without reaching its end. This is not peculiar to knowledge of the divine. Rather, in every field of knowledge, anyone embarking upon its study must initially accept certain premises as given until they are demonstrated later.