The Messengers conveyed what Allaah is described with on the basis of revelation (wahy, naql) and this is light (nur) and guidance (huda). The Philosophers spoke upon ignorance (jahl) and the whisperings of the devils, and employed reason (aql) to develop their idea of "divine perfection". This philosophical baggage provided the foundation for what became known as "ilm al-kalam", something that had already entered the Jews, Christians and Sabeans before the advent of Islam. The diagram below traces the origins and route of this "kalam" and contrasts between the way of the Prophets and Messengers followed by the Salafis and the way of the Philosophers followed by the people of kalam. On account of this "kalam", the people of kalam (Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Ash'ariyyah, Maturidiyyah) were forced to see a conflict between reason (aql) and revelation (naql), and hence they devised mechanisms (ta'wil, tafwid etc) to make the revelation conform to reason, after they gave reason the higher status. They saw that--upon evaluation with the language of "divine perfection" put forth by the Greek Philosophers--the revelation contains apparent Tajseem, tashbeeh and kufr and that such texts cannot be left alone and must be neutralised in one way or another. Thus, their speech about Tawheed revolved around this matter of distorting the texts upon their whims and desires.