Likewise, when it became clear to Abū Bakr, the utterly truthful one of this community, and to ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, ‘Alī, Talha, al-Zubayr, and others like them among the earliest believers that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was Allah’s Messenger, they believed in him (1). They did not then need the extraordinary occurrences needed by those who lacked their understanding.

There are many means of knowing the truth. We have drawn attention to this elsewhere, in establishing the truth of the Messenger’s mission and discussing the signs of prophethood. We explained that there are very many ways of knowing that the Messenger is truthful, and that miracles are only one of these ways. We also explained that any speculative thinker who says (* “Belief in the Messenger is possible only through a miracle” is like someone who says, “Knowledge of the Maker can be attained only by knowing that the world had a beginning.” (2)

This and similar claims are made by many speculative thinkers *) (3) who restrict a particular kind of knowledge to one specific proof, claiming that it cannot be attained otherwise. This has caused division among people. One group agrees with them and thus imposes on everyone what Allah and His Messenger have not made obligatory. This is especially so if some premises of the method they use as proof are open to criticism, as with their arguments that the world had a beginning because bodies had a beginning.

Another group rejects methods (4) of rational inquiry altogether, closes the door to inquiry and debate, and claims that these are categorically forbidden and that people have no need of them. Discord then arises between the two groups (5).