in a manner that decisively refutes them has not given Islam its due or fulfilled the demands of knowledge and faith. His words have neither brought healing to hearts and reassurance to souls nor yielded knowledge and certainty. Allah has obliged the believers to believe in the Messenger and strive alongside him. Believing in him includes affirming the truth of everything he has conveyed, and striving alongside him includes repelling everyone who opposes what he brought and deviates concerning Allah’s names and signs.

It is well known that every question involving affirmation or denial must have an objectively true answer, or require distinctions to be drawn. But anyone unfamiliar with the reports of the early generations, the true meaning of their statements, the true import of the Book and the Sunnah, and what sound reason truly establishes—which cannot conceivably contradict them—cannot make pronouncements on the strength of the knowledge he possesses. Allah does not burden any soul beyond its capacity.

There is no doubt that errors concerning subtle points of knowledge are forgiven for this community, even when they concern theoretical matters. Were this not so, most of the community’s eminent scholars would have perished. If Allah forgives someone who was unaware that wine is forbidden because he grew up in a land of ignorance, even though he did not seek knowledge, then a person of virtue who diligently seeks knowledge according to what is accessible in his time and place, intending to follow the Messenger to the best of his ability, is all the more deserving of Allah accepting his good deeds, rewarding his earnest efforts, and not holding him accountable for his mistakes, in fulfilment of His words: