accidental states indicates that it came into existence. He thus argues that the substances of the sperm-drop came into existence. This, however, is neither the method of the Quran nor that of most rational people. Rather, they know that the sperm-drop comes into existence after not having existed, through transformation from human blood, and that it is then transformed into a lump of flesh. They know that Allah creates this second substance from the first material through transformation and causes the first material to cease to exist. Its individual substances do not remain perpetually unchanged, as explained earlier.

Those who examine the Quran fall into three ranks: some disregard its rational proofs; some acknowledge them but misunderstand them; and some understand them correctly. Likewise, they fall into three groups regarding what it conveys through reports: some say that it does not indicate the revealed attributes; some cite it as evidence for what it does not indicate; and some cite it as evidence for what it does indicate.

Al-Ash‘arī and those like him occupy an intermediate position between the early generations and the Jahmiyyah. They took sound statements from the former, and from the latter rational principles that they thought sound, though they were unsound. Some people were drawn to him because of his adherence to the early generations, while others were drawn to him because of his innovated Jahmī tendencies, such as Abū al-Ma‘ālī and his followers. Others followed their approach, such as the leading scholars among their adherents, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

For the point here is that taking the Quran as the guide to be followed in the foundations of religion