as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ﴾[1]; “They have no knowledge of it, except the pursuit of conjecture.” Even those among them who strive for Islam and have no intention other than to serve it mostly do not know it based on the intellect and have no basis other than emotions, to the extent that most of them are like sheep, going in whichever direction they are driven! While their ignorance defeats their purpose, and their heedlessness leads to the opposite of their intention; considering that loving Islam before knowing it is not beneficial, and that acting for it before knowledge of it is dangerous; because an ignorant lover intends to benefit it but harms it, and a heedless doer intends to serve it but betrays it. Therefore, knowing Islam takes precedence over loving it, and knowledge of it is essential before acting for it. However, it seems that most Muslims love Islam while not knowing it and act for it while having no knowledge of it; like those about whom Allah Almighty has said: ﴿وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ﴾[2]; “And among them are unlettered ones who consider the religion nothing but wishes and do nothing but conjecture.”

[Causes of Ignorance of Islam]

This unfamiliarity of theirs with Islam is a legacy of their predecessors, stemming from various causes. One cause is that they do not pay enough attention to knowing Islam and are heedless of its obligation on each one of them. Another cause is that they do not consider the intellect as the criterion for knowing, nor do they care about the conformity of their perceptions of Islam to it; rather, they shy away from it and take pride in abandoning it. Another cause is that, to know the beliefs of Islam—even though they must be certain—they rely on conjectural narrations; rather, they follow the sects of theologians whose following has no basis in Islam. Another cause is that, to know the rulings of Islam, they do not refer to its main sources; instead, they imitate the sects of jurists for whom there is no evidence to imitate, but rather there is evidence not to imitate them. Another cause is that, to know the beliefs and rulings of Islam, they pay less attention to the Quran than to narrations;