The chronological markers peculiar to the Jews likewise revolve around their prophets and the circumstances of the Holy Temple; they date events by saying, “during the First House” or “during the Second House.”

In the same way, Aristotle became known only through the books attributed to him, just as Ptolemy is known through the Almagest, and Hippocrates and Galen through the medical treatises ascribed to them. Apart from these writings, what, exactly, has reached people about those men through uninterrupted mass-transmission—let alone any tawātur concerning the experimental or intuitive propositions recorded in their books? At most Ptolemy will say, “So-and-so observed such-and-such,” or Galen will claim, “I myself tested this,” or “So-and-so told me he tested it,” and similar anecdotes with which Galen filled his works. None of this rises to the level of tawātur; even were someone else to have repeated the experiment, it would still remain a solitary report.

The claims physicians make about testing medicines, however, are closer to being accepted than the observational claims advanced by the philosophers. Many doctors take part in trying the very same remedy; the plants involved are plentiful; and the experimenters agree on their effects—unlike the assertions the philosophers put forward in their speculative sciences. We ourselves have witnessed medical experiments conducted on a basis other than theirs and have often verified their truth. My purpose here is solely to expose the flaw in the philosophers’ foundations; otherwise, physicians stand on firmer ground than they do. Physicians cite an existing drug that can be tested repeatedly, given its availability and the large number of patients suffering from the ailment the drug is said to cure—while it is Allah Who brings about the cure through that medication. In this respect, the difference between the two groups is evident, as I have explained.