No, and not a tallying of men's opinions and their control through enumeration and calculation (Clarifying that knowledge is not the gathering of men's opinions, but rather the confinement of the truth to a single statement)
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The Shaykh : The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
"You have named them decisive rational proofs *** that negate the apparent meanings, bearing meanings
No" - and knowledge is also not "nor a tallying of men's opinions *** and their control through enumeration and calculation"
This means that knowledge is not the gathering of men's opinions, saying that there are a hundred opinions on this issue, and so on. The people of *kalam* (theology) have a method where they say, "He rose above the Throne," and people differ on the rising above the Throne in five opinions, and they differ on the Throne in twenty opinions, plunging you into doubt and confusion. This is not knowledge. Knowledge is to confine the truth to a single statement only. As for gathering opinions, saying so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that, without there being a proof, that is not knowledge.
"You have named them decisive rational proofs *** that negate the apparent meanings, bearing meanings
No" - and knowledge is also not "nor a tallying of men's opinions *** and their control through enumeration and calculation"
This means that knowledge is not the gathering of men's opinions, saying that there are a hundred opinions on this issue, and so on. The people of *kalam* (theology) have a method where they say, "He rose above the Throne," and people differ on the rising above the Throne in five opinions, and they differ on the Throne in twenty opinions, plunging you into doubt and confusion. This is not knowledge. Knowledge is to confine the truth to a single statement only. As for gathering opinions, saying so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that, without there being a proof, that is not knowledge.