The Invalidity of Analogizing Sacred Report to Other Forms of Report in Their Ability to Convey Certainty

Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said (2/368):

The only reason some people deny that a solitary report can yield certain knowledge is a faulty analogy. They likened the person who relates from the Messenger of Allah—concerning a ruling meant for the whole community or one of the Lord’s attributes—to an eyewitness testifying about a particular incident. Yet how far apart the two are!

If, hypothetically, the transmitter who reports from the Messenger of Allah were to lie deliberately or err and nothing emerged to reveal his falsehood, the consequence would be the misguidance of creation. The discussion concerns a report that the Ummah has unanimously received with acceptance, acted upon, and through which it has affirmed the attributes and actions of the Lord. Whatever reports the Sacred Law obliges us to accept cannot possibly be false in reality—especially when the entire community has embraced them.

The same judgment applies to every proof the Law commands us to follow: it must be true, and what it signifies must be established as fact. This pertains to information about the Lord’s law, His names, and His attributes. As for testimony concerning a specific litigated matter, its import may or may not correspond to the actual state of affairs.