to revelation is not actually part of it: it is either a fabricated hadith, an unsound understanding of a text that does not support it, or a false claim of consensus.

One example of this is that many people condemn astrological judgments. There is no doubt that they are condemned by revelation as well as reason, that their errors far exceed whatever is correct in them, and that anyone who relies upon them in conducting his affairs while turning away from what Allah and His Messenger have commanded will lose both this world and the Hereafter.

They may (1), however, reject them by the method of the Jahmiyyah and their like, claiming that nothing in the heavens has any effect whatsoever upon things on earth. They argue either according to the method (2) of the Jahmiyyah—although that method does not deny regular correlations, even if it affirms no cause, effect, or wise purpose—or on the basis of denying any regularity (3) in this matter.

They may then dispute (4) that the celestial spheres are round and claim that they have some other shape. In our response to the questions I was asked concerning this, we explained that, according to the Muslim scholars among the Companions and those who followed them faithfully, the celestial spheres are round. This has been reliably established from them through the chains of transmission cited in their proper place. Indeed, more than one Muslim scholar (5) has reported a consensus of the Muslims on this. These scholars rank among the people most knowledgeable about transmitted reports, such as Abū al-Husayn ibn al-Munādī, one of the foremost figures of the second generation of