the two Sahīh collections and elsewhere: “These are solitary reports that do not yield certain knowledge.”

Others go further, saying: “The Quran conveys meaning through transmitted words, and evidence conveyed through transmitted words does not yield certainty.” They instead place their reliance on what they claim to be rational arguments, although these are false and unsound; some are demonstrably invalid and untrue. These people, too, may declare those who disagree with them unbelievers, just as the former group does. Both approaches are false, even if their adherents do not declare their opponents unbelievers. If someone does declare his opponent an unbeliever, he becomes one of those people of innovation who introduce an innovation and declare anyone who disagrees with them concerning it an unbeliever, as the Khawārij and others have done.

It has been explained at length elsewhere that proofs yielding certain knowledge can never contradict one another. Rational evidence yielding certain knowledge never contradicts revealed evidence yielding certain knowledge, as we have explained in the book Averting Conflict between Reason and Revelation.

Al-Qādī Abū Yaʿlā mentioned some of these hadiths in his book Refuting Figurative Interpretation. These include a lengthy report from Abū Ubayda that he cited concerning the Prophet’s ascension, stating that “Muhammad saw his Lord.” Some of those who maintain that he saw his Lord with his own eyes declare those who disagree with them unbelievers because