and they seek to know His attributes or to witness Him with their hearts in this world. They therefore follow the path leading to this through faith and the Quran.

Faith is like a man’s following a route described to him by those who have travelled it, whose accounts all agree.

As for the Quran, it means accepting as true what the messengers report. This is like following a guide stage by stage. Both are indispensable on the path to Allah.

As for something whose existence reason did not know beforehand, anyone following a path leading to knowledge of it can only begin by relying on others and accepting unproven assumptions—as with the other first principles of the sciences. Thus, if syllogistic and practical methods necessarily involve reliance on others at the outset—when following what one does not yet know to be a path leading to the goal, or when one does not yet know that the goal exists—then the faith-based method, even supposing it were likewise, would not be discredited on that account. Rather, it would have the stronger claim to acceptance for many reasons. We shall mention some of them, Allah willing.

Indeed, there is no path other than this, or one that leads to it or accompanies it. It is therefore unquestionably necessary for attaining the goal, whereas other methods are not: the goal can be attained without them. They may even obstruct its attainment, so that it is not reached, or its opposite is reached instead—either outcome being the greatest misery. This path therefore certainly leads to the goal and contains no unsoundness, whereas other methods are frequently beset by unsoundness and cannot lead to it on their own. The faith-based method is indispensable.