sometimes err and at other times deliberately lie, so too do they in religious matters. Likewise, in their actions, they may do what they know to be unjust, or they may believe that something is not unjust when it is. For man is as Allah Most High says:

“Yet man undertook it; indeed, he was ever unjust and ignorant.”

Thus, at times he is ignorant and at times he acts unjustly: the former concerns his faculty of knowledge, and the latter his faculty of action.

Know that this matter concerns both those devoted to knowledge and discourse and those devoted to will and action. One says, “This is permissible” or “This is good,” based on his own judgment; another does it without believing it forbidden, or in the belief that it is good for him. For example, he may find benefit in innovated listening practices: listening to whistling, clapping, reed pipes known as the shabbāba and saffāra, stringed instruments, and the like. He does this for the pleasure he finds in it, and he may also do it because he finds that it benefits his religion by heightening his spiritual states, as happens with the Quran. Another says, “This is permissible,” because of the benefit and advantage he perceives in it.

The same applies to innovated doctrines. One says, “This is true, because rational inference demonstrates it.” Another says, “It is permissible—and obligatory—to believe these doctrines and incorporate them into the religion if that is the case.” The same applies to the policies of those in authority, including governors, judges, and others.

Know that no rational person can deny that he can sometimes distinguish, through his reason, between truth and falsehood, truthfulness and lying, and between the beneficial and the harmful