and even while alive they were, in the eyes of the people, like the dead. The Muslims were at ease from them, their religion was secure, their hearts were tranquil, and their limbs were at rest. This was when Islam was in its full freshness and the affairs of the Muslims were prospering.

[The Emergence of the Rationalist Trend]

Then, across these centuries, generation after generation passed—the earlier and the later—until time dealt its blows and revealed its calamities. There appeared a coarse people who claimed to be the successors of those before them. They alleged that they had attained more than their predecessors, possessed a deeper grasp of the realities of rational inquiry, were better guided to precise verification, and exercised keener judgment in subtle matters. They further claimed that the earlier generations had avoided speculative inquiry only because of their incapacity, and had declined to debate with them because of their limited understanding; and that the vindication of their own doctrine lay in disputing with them.

Thus, they replaced what was wholesome with what was foul, and what was ancient with what was new. They turned away from that upon which the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, stood; for which Allah had sent him; and to which He had made it obligatory for him to call mankind. Allah bestowed His favor upon His servants by completing His blessing upon them through guiding them to His path. He, Most High, said:

“Remember Allah’s favor upon you, and what He has sent down to you of the Book and wisdom, by which He instructs you.” [al-Baqarah: 231]

Thus Allah admonished His servants through His Book and urged them to follow the sunnah of His Messenger. In another verse, He said:

“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction.” [al-Naḥl: 125]

—not through disputation and contention. Yet they turned away from both and relied upon other than them, following for themselves the path of those who lead others astray,