the author of The Unveiling of Realities, the author of The Hidden Secrets in the Rational Sciences, and others of their kind—people who never set out to champion their doctrine unequivocally, nor did they fully rid themselves of the polytheistic strands of their error. Instead, they shared in much of that misguidance and in many of its absurdities, while freeing themselves from some of its baneful consequences. Even so, they treated their predecessors unjustly in those instances where the latter had spoken correctly, erring either because they failed to grasp their intent or because they did not realize that what had been said was, in fact, sound.

Sources of Abū ʿAlī Ibn Sīnā’s Knowledge and a Brief Glimpse of His Circumstances

In truth, these writers merely follow the words of Ibn Sīnā. Ibn Sīnā ventured into questions of divinity, prophecy, eschatology, and the revealed laws—subjects his predecessors had never broached, that their minds had not attained, and that their sciences had not encompassed. He derived those notions from the Muslims, though he took them primarily from the heretical factions that lay claim to Islam, such as the Ismāʿīlīs. Indeed, his own household belonged to their movement, being adherents of the ʿUbaydid ruler al-Ḥākim.