ABSTRACT
The true division [in religion], like that between negative and positive, is, we maintain, that mankind with regard to beliefs is divided into those who follow a revealed religion and those who follow human ideas and beliefs. When a man holds a belief or expresses an opinion he is either acquiring it from someone else, or is following his own ideas. One who acquires knowledge from someone else is the one who submits and obeys. Religion means obedience, and the one who submits and obeys is the religious man; one who follows his own independent judgment is an innovator and a heretic. There is a saying of the Prophet that the one who seeks counsel will not be unhappy, but the one who follows his own counsel will not be happy.
