anyone else.
Thus, when the Tatars emerged and some of them wished to embrace Islam, it is reported that one of the philosophers accompanying Hulagu advised him not to do so, saying: “His language is Arabic, and you have no need of his religious law.” Those among them who follow the Prophet in practical religious laws do not follow him in the foundations of religion and belief. Rather, they regard the Prophet as the speculative theologians regard one of the four imams. When the leading speculative theologians adhere to one of the four schools, they confine their adherence to matters of jurisprudence and do not consider themselves bound to agree with its imam on doctrinal foundations and questions of divine oneness. Indeed, they may regard their own teachers in speculative theology as superior to those imams in these matters.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has told us about Allah, His specific names and attributes, and about the angels, the Throne, the Footstool, Paradise, and Hell. None of this can be known through their syllogistic reasoning. Likewise, he has told us about particular matters, past and future, none of which can be known through their syllogistic reasoning, whether demonstrative or otherwise. Their syllogisms yield only universals, whereas these are particular matters.
He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, foretold specific events, even telling of the Tatars who appeared six hundred years after his prediction. Likewise, he foretold the fire that broke out before the Tatars arrived, in 655 AH. Could their syllogistic reasoning and demonstration conceivably point to a particular individual or a particular nation, let alone one possessing the characteristics he described?