Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Qādī Abū Bakr ibn al-Bāqillānī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shahrastānī, and others.

More extreme still, some of them compose works on the religion of the polytheists and apostasy from Islam. Thus, al-Rāzī wrote his book on worshipping celestial bodies, adducing proofs of its goodness and benefit and encouraging it. This constitutes apostasy from Islam by the consensus of the Muslims, although he may have subsequently returned to Islam. All the knowledge, deeds, and moral conduct they prescribe are insufficient to save anyone from Allah’s punishment, let alone lead to the bliss of the Hereafter. Allah Most High says:

“Who does greater wrong than one who fabricates a lie against Allah or denies His signs? They will receive their allotted share of what is decreed”—this verse and the next.

And He Most High says:

“When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in the knowledge they possessed”—to the end of the surah.

Here He tells us something similar to what He relates in al-Aʿrāf: when those who turned away from what the messengers brought saw Allah’s punishment, they acknowledged Allah’s oneness and abandoned polytheism, but this did not benefit them. Likewise, He relates concerning Pharaoh—who disbelieved in Allah’s oneness and in the divine message—that when drowning overtook him:

“He said, ‘I believe that there is no god except the One in whom…’”—to the end of the verse.

And He Most High says:

“And when your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins…”—this verse and the next.

This appears in several passages of the Quran, explaining that the messengers were commanded to worship Allah alone, without partner, and forbidden to worship any created being besides Him, and that