Clarification of the doubt that caused this distinction between ahad and mutawatir reports.

The Shaykh : They were presented with a doubt, which over time became a belief for them; namely, that an ahad report conveys only conjecture, and by conjecture they mean the predominant conjecture, of course. The predominant conjecture... ahad reports convey only conjecture. If we were to concede this to them in its absolute form, we would ask them: Where did you get this distinction from? What is the evidence for it from the Book and the Sunnah? And that it is obligatory to act upon ahad reports in matters of rulings, but not permissible to act upon them in matters of creed?
We have seen some of the contemporary scholars cite as evidence for this the saying of the Exalted, regarding the polytheists, about their adopting conjecture and following it. These scholars, in their citing, overlooked that the conjecture mentioned in these verses does not refer to the predominant conjecture that an ahad report conveys and which must be acted upon by consensus, but rather it refers to doubt, which is mere guessing. It was stated in al-Nihayah fi Gharib al-Hadith, al-Lisan, and other books of language, in the exact wording: "Conjecture is the doubt that arises to you regarding a thing, so you verify it and judge by it." End of quote.
This is the conjecture that Allah the Exalted rebuked the polytheists for. And what supports this is His saying the Exalted about them: Thus, He made conjecture to be the mixing that is mere guessing and estimation.