and his followers, as well as those among the adherents of the imams who agreed with them, such as al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā, Abū al-Ma‘ālī al-Juwaynī, Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī and others. They all agree that some matters can be known through both reason and revelation, understood here as reports alone—for example, whether people’s actions are created by Allah or not, whether seeing Him is possible or impossible, and similar matters.

The books on the foundations of religion written by all the various groups are filled with arguments based on revealed reports. Al-Rāzī, however, challenged this in al-Matālib al-‘Āliya, saying: “Reliance on revelation as evidence is conditional upon its not being opposed by a conclusive rational proof. If a rational proof opposes it, that proof must take precedence.” He said: “Knowing that no opposing rational proof exists is impossible.” He accepts as established through revelation only those matters which are necessarily known to have been reported by the Messenger, such as the resurrection.

It might be supposed that this was the approach of the leading authorities of his school who suspended judgment concerning the threats of punishment, such as al-Ash‘arī, al-Qādī Abū Bakr and others. This is not so. They suspended judgment only concerning reports containing threats of punishment, because, in their view, general wording does not yield certainty, or because they do not recognize linguistic forms that inherently denote generality, and because they considered the evidence to be conflicting. Otherwise, they affirm Allah’s attributes known through transmitted reports, such as the Face and the Hand, on the basis of revelation and reports alone. Al-Ash‘arī’s position on this did not vary, and it is also the position of the leading authorities among his followers.

Abū al-Ma‘ālī and his followers, however, do not affirm the attributes known through transmitted reports. Rather, some of them deny these attributes, while others suspend judgment concerning them, such as al-Rāzī and al-Āmidī. It may therefore be said: al-Ash‘arī’s position can be inferred from what these scholars say