Twenty-five exercises in assessing creed claims, textual support, and inference limits; 43 questions — supplementary practice Read the bilingual lesson for Claim and Evidence: What Creed Texts Do and Do Not Establish and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. The claim of tawḥīd and denial of partners
إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى وَاحِدٌ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ.
Indeed, Allah Most High is One; He has no partner.
Claim under examination: A person accepts Allah as Creator of all yet considers assigning an independent partner in worship compatible with tawḥīd.
What the text establishes: Wāḥid affirms oneness and lā sharīka lahu denies any partner. Mere acknowledgment of the Creator is not the whole of tawḥīd; divine worship and godhood also exclude partners.
What does not follow: The statement does not reveal the concealed intention of any particular person. Establishing a general doctrine and judging every circumstance of an individual are distinct matters.
Application: Among four statements, choose the one that rejects partnership in both creation and worship.
2. Incomparability does not cancel attributes
وَلَا شَيْءَ مِثْلُهُ.
Nothing is like Him.
Claim under examination: A student takes “Nothing is like Allah” to mean that hearing and seeing cannot be affirmed of Him.
What the text establishes: Incomparability denies resemblance and creaturely modality, not the attributes of perfection affirmed by revelation. Transcendence and affirmed attributes stand together.
What does not follow: The phrase does not affirm human bodily organs, nor does it license a wholesale rejection of attributes. Both additions exceed its meaning.
Application: Identify the statement that affirms an attribute without assigning human modality.
3. Divine will versus approval
وَلَا يَكُونُ إِلَّا مَا يُرِيدُ.
Nothing takes place except what Allah wills.
Claim under examination: It is claimed that because a wrong action occurs within divine will, Allah must therefore approve or love that action.
What the text establishes: An event occurring under divine will and its being divinely approved are different propositions. The passage affirms will in relation to occurrence; religious approval is determined by the relevant commands and prohibitions.
What does not follow: “Nothing occurs except what He wills” does not mean every occurrence is commanded or beloved.
Application: Assess the event’s occurrence and its religious permissibility as separate questions.
4. Eternal attributes and created effects
مَا زَالَ بِصِفَاتِهِ قَدِيمًا قَبْلَ خَلْقِهِ
Before creating anything, Allah was eternally possessed of His attributes.
Claim under examination: Someone argues that if Allah is eternally Creator, creatures too must have existed eternally; otherwise the attribute of creating would have arisen later.
What the text establishes: The divine attributes are eternal while created objects to which they relate are originated. An eternal attribute does not require every object related to it to be eternal.
What does not follow: Confusing the attribute of creation with the time a creature comes into being is mistaken. The text establishes the eternality of divine attributes, not the eternality of creatures.
Application: In examples, distinguish an eternal attribute from a created object.
5. Prior knowledge and responsibility
وَلَمْ يَخْفَ عَلَيْهِ شَيْءٌ مِنْ أَفْعَالِهِمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ خَلَقَهُمْ
Before creating them, none of their actions was hidden from Allah.
Claim under examination: A person says: Since Allah already knows my action, my choice and accountability are meaningless.
What the text establishes: Prior divine knowledge means no act is hidden from Allah. Divine knowing and the attribution of an action to a servant are different aspects; knowledge does not eliminate acquisition or responsibility.
What does not follow: Equating knowledge with coercion is unsupported by this phrase. Human choice and obligation must be considered through their own relevant teachings.
Application: Correct the statement: “To know an act is to compel it.”
6. Human will without independence
لَا مَشِيئَةَ لِلْعِبَادِ إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ لَهُمْ
Servants have no will except what Allah has willed for them.
Claim under examination: A servant experiences choices, yet it is alleged that human willing is completely independent of the divine will.
What the text establishes: Human willing and choosing are affirmed within divine will. Both propositions remain: the servant wills, but not independently of Allah.
What does not follow: The passage supports neither a total denial of human choice nor the claim that human willing has independent creative sovereignty.
Application: Combine the reality of human choice with its dependence in one sentence.
7. Servanthood and prophethood
وَإِنَّ مُحَمَّدًا صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَبْدُهُ الْمُصْطَفَى وَنَبِيُّهُ الْمُجْتَبَى وَرَسُولُهُ الْمُرْتَضَى
Muhammad ﷺ is Allah’s chosen servant, selected Prophet, and approved Messenger.
Claim under examination: In praising the Prophet ﷺ, a speaker concludes that the description of him as Allah’s servant should be dropped.
What the text establishes: ʿAbduhu al-muṣṭafā and nabiyyuhu al-mujtabā appear together. Chosen servanthood and prophethood do not conflict; servanthood expresses the sound relationship of the Messenger to Allah.
What does not follow: The office of Messenger does not establish divinity or partnership in divine attributes; nor does servanthood diminish prophetic honor.
Application: Formulate praise that preserves both the Prophet’s servanthood and messengership.
8. The meaning of final prophethood
وَإِنَّهُ خَاتَمُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَإِمَامُ الْأَتْقِيَاءِ وَسَيِّدُ الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَحَبِيبُ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
The Prophet ﷺ is the Seal of the Prophets, leader of the God-fearing, master of the Messengers, and beloved of the Lord of the worlds.
Claim under examination: Someone treats Khātam al-anbiyāʾ as only an honorific and infers that new prophethood remains possible after the Prophet ﷺ.
What the text establishes: Finality is stated as a distinct attribute alongside other honors. Khātam al-anbiyāʾ means no prophet will come after him ﷺ.
What does not follow: The attributes of leadership and divine love do not erase the separate meaning of finality.
Application: Among the titles, identify the one that explicitly indicates the end of prophethood.
9. Divine speech and human recitation
وَإِنَّ الْقُرْآنَ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ
The Qur’an is the speech of Allah.
Claim under examination: Observing a person reciting the Qur’an aloud, a student concludes that the Qur’an itself must be a human composition.
What the text establishes: The Qur’an’s being Allah’s speech concerns its source; a human voice reciting it concerns the reciter’s act. The human act of recitation must not be confused with the origin of divine speech.
What does not follow: “The Qur’an is Allah’s speech” does not deny the existence of a human reciter; nor does recitation change the divine source of the Qur’an.
Application: Distinguish Qur’an, recitation, and reciter to expose an invalid inference.
10. Vision and comprehension are distinct
وَالرُّؤْيَةُ حَقٌّ لِأَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ بِغَيْرِ إِحَاطَةٍ وَلَا كَيْفِيَّةٍ
The people of Paradise will truly see Allah, without encompassing Him or determining a modality.
Claim under examination: A person argues that affirming the vision of Allah necessarily gives the viewer exhaustive comprehension of the divine reality.
What the text establishes: The text affirms vision with the explicit restriction “without encompassing and without modality.” The reality of vision and denial of exhaustive comprehension are stated together.
What does not follow: Vision does not by itself establish a specific modality, direction, or exhaustive grasp. The qualification in the text belongs to the doctrine.
Application: After affirming the vision, state the restriction that prevents overinterpretation.
11. Affirming a reported unseen event
وَالْمِعْرَاجُ حَقٌّ
The Ascension is true.
Claim under examination: Someone accepts the Miʿrāj but treats every unreported imagined detail as an essential, certain part of that belief.
What the text establishes: “The Miʿrāj is true” establishes the reality of the Ascension. Particular events and details require their own sound textual support.
What does not follow: An affirmative general text does not authorize inventing details. Believing in the event and accepting every circulating description are distinct claims.
Application: Assess the event’s reality and the evidence for particular details separately.
12. Intercession and its divinely assigned limits
وَالشَّفَاعَةُ الَّتِي ادَّخَرَهَا لَهُمْ حَقٌّ كَمَا رُوِيَ فِي الْأَخْبَارِ
The intercession reserved for the Prophet ﷺ is true, as transmitted in the reports.
Claim under examination: Someone infers from the reality of intercession that no one can face judgment or punishment under any circumstances.
What the text establishes: Intercession is real but subject to Allah’s permission and wisdom. Its affirmation does not abolish judgment, the Balance, or divine justice.
What does not follow: The doctrine of intercession is different from an unconditional prediction about every sinner’s final outcome. The text does not establish the latter.
Application: Affirm intercession while retaining divine will and accountability.
13. The decree and unwarranted certainty
وَأَصْلُ الْقَدَرِ سِرُّ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى فِي خَلْقِهِ
The foundation of predestination is Allah Most High’s secret concerning His creation.
Claim under examination: A person claims certain knowledge of all the hidden reasons and future outcomes of the divine decree merely on the basis of speculation.
What the text establishes: The hidden depth of divine decree belongs to Allah. A servant affirms what revelation teaches and attends to duties; speculative certainty about every hidden aspect is not knowledge.
What does not follow: Not knowing the secret of the decree does not excuse neglecting duties, nor does a private conjecture become knowledge of the unseen.
Application: Distinguish certain revealed knowledge of the unseen from human conjecture.
14. People of the qiblah and affirmation
وَنُسَمِّي أَهْلَ قِبْلَتِنَا مُسْلِمِينَ مُؤْمِنِينَ مَا دَامُوا بِمَا جَاءَ بِهِ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مُعْتَرِفِينَ وَلَهُ بِكُلِّ مَا قَالَ وَأَخْبَرَ مُصَدِّقِينَ
We call the people of our qibla Muslims and believers so long as they acknowledge what the Prophet ﷺ brought and affirm the truth of everything he said and reported.
Claim under examination: A person is seen praying toward the qiblah, and an observer claims to know every inward belief of that person from this one observation.
What the text establishes: The designation Muslim and believer is joined to acknowledgment of the Messenger’s teaching and affirmation of his reports. An outward indication is not complete knowledge of every hidden inward state.
What does not follow: Ignoring the text’s qualifications while claiming certainty about a person’s entire inner state adds what the statement does not establish.
Application: Keep an outward religious designation distinct from knowledge of hidden intentions.
15. Grave sin and predictions of final fate
وَأَهْلُ الْكَبَائِرِ مِنْ أُمَّةِ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي النَّارِ لَا يُخَلَّدُونَ إِذَا مَاتُوا وَهُمْ مُوَحِّدُونَ
Major sinners from Muhammad’s ﷺ community do not remain eternally in the Fire if they die as affirmers of Allah’s oneness, even if they enter it.
Claim under examination: One person says a monotheistic grave sinner must remain in Hell forever; another says faith makes any punishment impossible.
What the text establishes: The passage denies eternal confinement in Hell for grave sinners who die upon tawḥīd; it does not deny the possibility of punishment before forgiveness. The ruling on a sin and an absolute prediction of final fate are distinct.
What does not follow: Neither unconditional assurance of Paradise for every sinner nor inevitable eternal punishment is supported by this passage.
Application: Identify the qualifying condition of dying upon tawḥīd and the denial of eternal punishment.
16. The limit of obedience to authorities
وَلَا نَرَى الْخُرُوجَ عَلَى أَئِمَّتِنَا وَوُلَاةِ أُمُورِنَا وَإِنْ جَارُوا وَلَا نَدْعُو عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا نَنْزِعُ يَدًا مِنْ طَاعَتِهِمْ
We do not regard rebellion against our leaders and authorities as right, even if they act unjustly. Nor do we pray against them or withdraw obedience from them in lawful matters.
Claim under examination: One view says that a ruler’s wrongdoing invalidates every command; another says every command must be obeyed even when it entails disobedience to Allah.
What the text establishes: The principle preserves communal order and obedience in what is right. Alongside it stands the rule that there is no obedience in disobedience to Allah; neither principle is cancelled.
What does not follow: Turning ordinary political obedience into permission for every sin, or treating personal wrongdoing as the cancellation of all lawful obedience, are both unwarranted.
Application: Distinguish commands that are right from those that require sin.
17. Recording angels and the limits of observation
وَنُؤْمِنُ بِالْكِرَامِ الْكَاتِبِينَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ جَعَلَهُمْ عَلَيْنَا حَافِظِينَ
We believe in the noble recording angels, for Allah has appointed them as guardians over us.
Claim under examination: A person cannot explain how the recording angels work and therefore rejects the recording of deeds altogether.
What the text establishes: Belief in the recording angels is acceptance of a report about the unseen. Affirming their appointment and oversight of deeds does not depend on observing every detail of their operation.
What does not follow: Unreported mechanisms must not be asserted with certainty. Not observing the angels is no proof against the reported reality.
Application: State the reported fact and the unknown mechanism as separate propositions.
18. Distinct elements of the final judgment
وَنُؤْمِنُ بِالْبَعْثِ وَجَزَاءِ الْأَعْمَالِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَالْعَرْضِ وَالْحِسَابِ وَقِرَاءَةِ الْكِتَابِ وَالثَّوَابِ وَالْعِقَابِ وَالصِّرَاطِ وَالْمِيزَانِ يُوزَنُ فِيهِ أَعْمَالُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَالشَّرِّ وَالطَّاعَةِ وَالْمَعْصِيَةِ
We believe in resurrection, recompense for deeds on the Day of Judgment, presentation before Allah, reckoning, reading the record, reward and punishment, the Bridge, and the Balance in which believers' good and evil deeds, obedience and disobedience, will be weighed.
Claim under examination: Someone affirms resurrection and judgment but regards the Scrolls, Balance, and Bridge as redundant expressions that may be dismissed.
What the text establishes: The passage names resurrection, presentation, accounting, reading the record, reward and punishment, the Bridge, and the Balance separately. A general phrase must not erase the distinct affirmed realities.
What does not follow: Imagining unreported details for each event is unwarranted; nevertheless, their separate mention requires affirming the distinct elements.
Application: Identify accounting, the Balance, and the Bridge without treating them as synonyms.
19. Permanence of Paradise and Hell versus eternality
وَالْجَنَّةُ وَالنَّارُ مَخْلُوقَتَانِ لَا تَفْنَيَانِ أَبَدًا وَلَا تَبِيدَانِ
Paradise and Hell have both been created. They will never perish or cease to exist.
Claim under examination: Someone says: Since Paradise and Hell will never perish, they must be beginningless and uncreated like Allah.
What the text establishes: Makhlūqatān affirms that they are created, while lā tafnayān affirms their permanence. Createdness and everlasting continuance can coexist without attributing the Creator’s beginninglessness to creation.
What does not follow: Not perishing in the future is no proof of having no beginning. This distinction separates beginninglessness from enduring permanence.
Application: Contrast the uncreated, beginningless Creator with created things granted permanence.
20. Two relations in human actions
وَأَفْعَالُ الْعِبَادِ (هِيَ) خَلْقُ اللَّهِ وَكَسْبٌ مِنَ الْعِبَادِ
The actions of servants are created by Allah and acquired by the servants.
Claim under examination: One person argues that if Allah creates actions, human acquisition is false; another affirms acquisition by denying divine creation.
What the text establishes: The passage jointly affirms khalq Allāh and kasb min al-ʿibād. Creation and acquisition are distinct relations; affirming one does not cancel the other.
What does not follow: Inferring absolute compulsion from creation or independent creative power from acquisition are two unsupported additions.
Application: Illustrate “Allah creates; the servant acquires” with an example.
21. Love of the Companions without excess
وَنُحِبُّ أَصْحَابَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَلَا نُفْرِطُ فِي حُبِّ أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ
We love the Companions of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ and do not go to excess in love for any one of them.
Claim under examination: In the name of loving one Companion, someone justifies insulting another and exaggerated claims about the first.
What the text establishes: Nuḥibbu aṣḥāb Rasūl Allāh affirms love for the Companions generally, while lā nufriṭu restricts excess. Respect and recognition of merit must retain moderation.
What does not follow: Love for the Companions does not automatically establish absolute infallibility or justify denigrating another.
Application: Separate love, recognition of rank, and exaggeration.
22. Verifying a reported karāmah
وَنُؤْمِنُ بِمَا جَاءَ مِنْ كَرَامَاتِهِمْ وَصَحَّ عَنِ الثِّقَاتِ مِنْ رِوَايَاتِهِمْ
We believe in reports of the saints' extraordinary graces that are soundly transmitted by reliable narrators.
Claim under examination: An extraordinary story is attributed to a saint; one person treats it as certain without verification while another rejects all karāmāt.
What the text establishes: The text affirms karāmāt of the awliyāʾ and stresses sound reporting through trustworthy transmitters. Popular circulation of a story is not the same as verification.
What does not follow: Affirming karāmāt does not validate every unverified report, and the weakness of one story does not refute the entire category.
Application: For a reported incident, distinguish possibility, establishment, and certainty.
23. Claims of soothsaying and the religious standard
وَلَا نُصَدِّقُ كَاهِنًا وَلَا عَرَّافًا وَلَا مَنْ يَدَّعِي شَيْئًا يُخَالِفُ الْكِتَابَ وَالسُّنَّةَ وَإِجْمَاعَ الْأُمَّةِ.
We do not affirm a kāhin (soothsayer), an ʿarrāf (diviner), or anyone who makes a claim contrary to the Book, the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslim community.
Claim under examination: A person demands belief in claims of hidden knowledge because of personal fame, even when those claims contradict Qur’an and Sunnah.
What the text establishes: The passage rejects affirming a kāhin or ʿarrāf and names Qur’an, Sunnah, and the community’s consensus as the relevant standards. Fame or striking assertions are not proof of religious correctness.
What does not follow: An unverified allegation must not be elevated to knowledge of the unseen merely because it is asserted; fame cannot vindicate a claim against evidence.
Application: Assess the claim and its evidence rather than the speaker’s popularity.
24. Communal truth versus numerical claims
وَنَرَى الْجَمَاعَةَ حَقًّا وَصَوَابًا وَالْفُرْقَةَ زَيْغًا وَعَذَابًا.
We regard the united community as truth and correctness, and division from it as deviation and a cause of punishment.
Claim under examination: A group argues that having more followers makes all its opinions true without evaluating the evidence.
What the text establishes: The affirmation of al-jamāʿah highlights attachment to the community of truth. Sound texts and authentic consensus cannot be replaced by a bare claim of numerical majority.
What does not follow: The truth of the community does not make every unsupported assertion by any group using that name automatically conclusive.
Application: Distinguish the evidential value of “we are many” from “we have sound proof.”
25. Assessing the four balances of creed
وَهُوَ بَيْنَ الْغُلُوِّ وَالتَّقْصِيرِ وَبَيْنَ التَّشْبِيهِ وَالتَّعْطِيلِ وَبَيْنَ الْجَبْرِ وَالْقَدَرِ وَبَيْنَ الْأَمْنِ وَالْإِيَاسِ.
The religion of Islam follows a middle path between excess and deficiency, likening God to creation and denying His attributes, compulsion and the doctrine of autonomous human creation, and feeling secure from punishment and despairing of mercy.
Claim under examination: A person interprets moderation as the arithmetic midpoint between any two opposing claims being automatically true.
What the text establishes: Moderation between exaggeration and neglect, assimilation and negation, compulsion and absolute autonomy, false security and despair is determined by established doctrine, not numerical compromise. Truth is identified by the relevant evidence.
What does not follow: Inventing a middle opinion between any pair of statements is insufficient. Sound balance requires understanding why the opposed extremes are defective.
Application: For each of the four pairs, identify a formulation that avoids both errors.
Practice questions
Question 1
What does the statement of tawḥīd establish most directly?
- Allah is One and has no partner
- Acknowledging a Creator settles worship regardless of whom it is directed to
- Divine oneness concerns provision alone
- Worship can include partners if the Creator is one
Question 2
Which application of incomparability is sound?
- Denying every affirmed attribute
- Affirming revealed attributes while denying creaturely modality
- Treating divine and human modalities as identical
- Reading hearing and sight as human organs
Question 3
Which conclusion about divine will is warranted?
- Every sin that occurs is religiously approved
- Will and command have exactly the same meaning
- Occurrence depends on divine will; religious approval is a separate question
- Created actions are outside divine knowledge
Question 4
Which claim wrongly transfers the eternality of the Creator’s attribute to created beings?
- A distinction between an attribute and its object
- The originated existence of creatures
- The divine attributes being eternal
- Every creature existing eternally
Question 5
Which statement correctly relates divine knowledge to compulsion?
- Knowing beforehand is not itself proof of compulsion
- Divine knowledge abolishes human acquisition
- Allah learns of actions only after they occur
- Known actions carry no accountability
Question 6
What follows from “Human willing is only as Allah wills for them”?
- Humans independently create all actions
- Servants have a will, but it is not independent
- No human choosing exists at all
- Divine will is unrelated to human actions
Question 7
How do these two descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ relate?
- A messenger has the status of divinity
- Messengership cancels servanthood
- Servanthood and messengership are both true and compatible
- Servanthood implies denial of prophethood
Question 8
What is the specific meaning of Khātam al-anbiyāʾ?
- It negates the Qur’an being divine speech
- It refers only to leadership of the pious
- Only honor is meant while later prophets remain possible
- No prophet comes after the Messenger ﷺ
Question 9
Which distinction is sound?
- The Qur’an is of divine origin; recitation is a human act
- Calling it divine speech negates recitation
- A human voice turns the Qur’an into a human composition
- No distinction can be drawn between these two relations
Question 10
Which statement about the vision of Allah is correct?
- Denying comprehension negates vision
- Vision is true, without encompassing or a specified modality
- Vision is available to everyone in this life
- Vision requires exhaustive comprehension of Allah
Question 11
What does “The Miʿrāj is true” establish directly?
- The Ascension reverses final prophethood
- All particulars can be established through imagination alone
- The event of the Ascension is true
- Every unreported story is certainly part of the Ascension
Question 12
Which statement on intercession accords with the text?
- Intercession is assured for every individual without any condition
- Intercession means denial of the final judgment
- Intercession means worldly praise only
- Intercession is real but does not remove judgment and justice
Question 13
Which attitude toward the secret of the decree is correct?
- Accept established truths and avoid certainty about what is unknown
- Reject every revealed teaching about the decree
- Claim exhaustive knowledge of the hidden purposes of decree
- Abandon duties and live on guesses alone
Question 14
What does the text stress in describing people of the qiblah?
- Rejecting the connection between faith and affirmation
- Acknowledging the Prophet’s teaching and affirming his reports
- Knowledge of all inner states through the prayer direction alone
- Categorical judgments about everyone without examining the relevant conditions
Question 15
What is the proper limit of this text about grave sinners?
- A believer can never commit a sin
- No monotheist can face accounting or punishment
- A monotheist, if punished in Hell, will not remain there forever
- Every grave sinner is inevitably condemned eternally
Question 16
Which view of obedience to authorities is balanced?
- A ruler’s personal wrongdoing nullifies every lawful order
- Obedience has no relation to religious right and wrong
- Every order must be obeyed even if sinful
- Obey in what is right, not in disobedience
Question 17
What is the affirmed teaching about the recording angels?
- Their appointment and oversight of deeds
- Their recording is unrelated to accountability
- Not seeing them requires denial of their existence
- Humans can observe all their unseen mechanisms
Question 18
How should the listed events of the Hereafter be understood?
- The Balance may be denied because accounting is mentioned
- Affirm each of the distinctly mentioned realities
- Reject the existence of the record of deeds
- The Bridge, resurrection, and record mean exactly the same thing
Question 19
Which two statements about Paradise and Hell are both true?
- They must perish because they are created
- They are merely metaphors and have no reality
- They are created and will not perish
- They are uncreated and beginningless
Question 20
Which combination correctly states the doctrine of human actions?
- Divine creation eliminates human acquisition
- Actions occur independently of divine knowledge
- Humans independently create their actions
- Actions are Allah’s creation and servants’ acquisition
Question 21
Which attitude reflects sound love for the Companions?
- Love and respect for the Companions without excess
- Claiming absolute infallibility in the name of love
- Insulting one Companion for another
- Using differences of merit to justify hatred
Question 22
How should a claim of karāmah be assessed?
- Reject all karāmāt because one report is doubtful
- Affirm karāmāt while verifying a particular report
- Declare every popular story a certain miracle
- Treat transmitter reliability as irrelevant
Question 23
What is the correct principle concerning soothsayers and claims contrary to religious texts?
- An unverified claim to hidden knowledge
- Only the claimant’s fame
- Do not affirm soothsayers; reject claims contrary to Qur’an and Sunnah
- The audience’s astonishment and size
Question 24
What should take priority over mere numbers when assessing a communal claim?
- Treating headcount as the final religious proof
- Every majority opinion without proof
- Merely adopting the label “community”
- Sound religious evidence and established consensus
Question 25
How is doctrinal balance properly understood?
- Avoiding opposing extremes on the basis of evidence
- Calling denial of all attributes transcendence
- Despairing of mercy after every sin
- Treating the arithmetic midpoint of every dispute as truth
Question 26
If a proof affirms an event but does not describe all particulars, what is the proper approach?
- Include every circulating story within the doctrine
- Affirm the event and require separate evidence for further details
- Reject the event whenever details are unknown
- Declare an unreported modality an essential article of belief
Question 27
If a popular claim conflicts with established evidence, which approach is sound?
- Treat audience size as religious proof
- Treat an extraordinary story as exempt from verification
- Examine content and evidence rather than relying on fame
- A popular assertion is always correct
Question 28
Which two principles together prevent an extreme position on divine decree?
- Assign independent creativity and willing to humans
- Assume total human compulsion and no accountability
- Deny divine knowledge while affirming acquisition
- Affirm divine knowledge and will along with human acquisition
Question 29
In which case is it right to distinguish a thing’s existence from knowledge of every detail?
- In unseen realities such as the divine vision and the recording angels
- In ignoring the text’s express qualifications
- In treating non-observation as decisive proof of nonexistence
- In declaring every unreported modality obligatory
Question 30
What is the basic error in treating the permanence of Paradise and Hell as incompatible with their createdness?
- Affirming their created status
- Confusing having a beginning with continuing forever
- Distinguishing two different properties
- Accepting Qur’anic teaching about the Hereafter
Question 31
Which pair represents two unwarranted extremes concerning grave sinners?
- The importance of tawḥīd and possibility of forgiveness
- Affirming both judgment and intercession
- Eternal punishment for every monotheist or no possible punishment for any sinner
- Recognizing sin as sin and repentance as required
Question 32
What generally goes wrong when an essential qualification is removed from teachings about attributes or final prophethood?
- Every passage becomes merely literary
- Only wording changes while meaning remains untouched
- All texts cancel each other
- The original meaning is altered or an unsupported extension introduced
Question 33
What separates a general doctrinal principle from claiming knowledge of every inward state of a person?
- The principle is known from text; inward specifics require their own evidence
- They are always identical judgments
- Every intention becomes certain from an outward sign
- General principles never require evidence
Question 34
What sound common approach applies to love of the Companions and reports of karāmāt?
- Discard all evidence in the name of love
- Affirm the valid principle while avoiding excess and unverified attribution
- Reject the whole subject because one report is weak
- Treat every flattering assertion as certainly true
Question 35
Why is moderation not simply the midpoint between two opinions?
- The texts automatically become clearer
- The dispute is fully investigated
- Truth is replaced by numerical compromise rather than evidence
- All four balances are thereby established
Question 36
The affirmation of tawḥīd also denies every partner.
Question 37
An act occurring by divine will necessarily proves that it is religiously approved.
Question 38
Affirming prior divine knowledge automatically removes human acquisition.
Question 39
“Without encompassing” is an essential qualification of the affirmed vision of Allah.
Question 40
The reality of intercession requires denying the final judgment.
Question 41
Every popular karāmah story must be accepted as certain without verification.
Question 42
A creature remaining forever does not make it uncreated and beginningless.
Question 43
The authority of established consensus can be replaced by headcount alone.
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