is forbidden.” (1) It is well known that the statement of the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—is authoritative proof that must be followed, so there is no need for us to mention this. (2)
Similarly, the Most High says:
“Had there been within them gods besides Allah, they both would surely have fallen into ruin.”
[Surah al-Anbiyā’: 22]
[That is: Yet they have not fallen into ruin; therefore, there are no gods (3) besides Allah] (4). This is evident and does not need to be expressly stated in the discourse (5), for the purpose of discourse (6) is clarification, and explaining what is already evident may itself amount to inarticulateness. Setting out a proof may require a single premise (7), or it may require two premises, three, or more. Thus, the one presenting the proof (8) states what requires clarification (9 but not what requires no clarification 9) (9).
As for the logicians’ assertion that every inferential proof must contain two premises—no more being necessary and no fewer being sufficient—when only one premise is deemed sufficient, they say, “There has been omitted
(1) Manuscript (N): “Every intoxicant is forbidden, and every khamr (wine) is forbidden.” Manuscripts (ʿ) and (A): “Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden.” The hadith also appears in hadith compilations with the wording: “Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden.” The hadith is narrated from Ibn Umar—may Allah be pleased with them both—in Muslim, 3:1587, Book of Drinks, chapter “Establishing That Every Intoxicant Is Khamr”; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 3:447, Book of Drinks, chapter “The Prohibition of Intoxicants”; Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 3:192, Book of Drinks, chapter “What Has Been Reported concerning the Drinker of Khamr”; Sunan Ibn Mājah, 2:1223, Book of Drinks, chapter “Every Intoxicant Is Forbidden”; and al-Musnad, al-Maʿārif edition, nos. 4644, 4645, 4830, 4831, 4863, 5730, 5731, 5820, 6179, and 6218.
(2) Manuscripts (N) and (A): “Thus, there is no need for this to be mentioned”; manuscript (B): “And there is no need for this to be mentioned.”
(3) Manuscripts (A) and (B): *ilāhun* (“a god”).
(4) The text between square brackets is absent from manuscripts (N) and (M).
(5) Manuscript (N): “does not need to become clear through discourse.”
(6) Manuscripts (N) and (ʿ): “through discourse.”
(7) *Wāhidatin* (“single”) is absent from manuscripts (A) and (B).
(8) Manuscript (A): “Thus, this person presenting the proof.”
(9) The text between markers (9–9) is absent from manuscripts (A) and (B).