by actions alone. As for absolute principles, reason encompasses necessity, obligation, and impossibility, as has been explained.

The second proof: The necessities of reason are three: obligation, impossibility, and possibility. If we examine the section on worship in the Sharia, we find that it is not of the kind that leads to the opposite, meaning that the truth of one of two possible propositions negates the truth of the other, and consequently, prohibition in a proposition is no more valid than permission in it.

The third proof: All entities are equal in reason. None of them is more valid than the other.

The fourth proof: God Almighty is the owner of all things. He does in His kingdom what He wills and rules in His creation as He pleases. Therefore, reason has no authority or role in what the Master Almighty has decreed.

These proofs, in their entirety, are based on two foundations: The first is that things and actions have no value in themselves, so that reason can judge their goodness or badness. Thus, the Sharia is the sole determinant of that. The Mahdi was influenced in this by the opinion of the Ash'arites.

The second is that divine will is the absolute determinant of rulings, so that reason's invention of some rulings leads to polytheism, and this is a solid basis for these proofs.

Within the framework of this affirmation that reason has no role in the Sharia, the Mahdi turned his criticism to analogical reasoning (qiyas) used by jurists to deduce rulings. He explained that it is a form of analogy that allows reason to establish rulings. He then explained the rules of correct analogy that are free from this rational invention of rulings, returning the matter entirely to God.

For a detailed explanation from the perspective of other Islamic sects, see: Abd al-Karim Uthman, Theory of Obligation, p. 66.

For a detailed explanation, see p. 297 of this research.