  After the philosopher departs, the king decides to speak with the Christians and the Muslims on the assumption that one of their forms of practice must be pleasing to God, but he declines to speak with the Jews owing to their paltry numbers, despicable condition, and the universal contempt in which they are held. Accordingly, he asks a Christian scholar and then a Muslim scholar about his “knowledge and actions” (‘ilm wa-l-‘amal), and each replies, in turn, with an affirmation of his faith, a brief history of his religion, and at least an adumbration of its practice. In their attempt to address the king's practical concerns, each one also presents his religion as the culmination of a prophetic tradition going back to the experiences of biblical Israel. Nevertheless, the king rejects both presentations, in the former case, because its principal claims are judged to be at odds with reason, and in the latter, because it fails to provide adequate empirical evidence that a revelation actually occurred and that its alleged content is itself miraculous. Despite these negative appraisals, both exchanges (K 1:4–9) have the positive effect of making clear that what the king seeks is a statement of praxis supported by incontrovertible evidence that grips the heart completely. Building upon the paradigm of how natural scientists explain extraordinary phenomena, the king maintains that if direct experience, however unlikely or unexpected, is well founded and grips the heart, it must be accepted. This is because experience is primary and foundational, while the task of theory is to show rationally how what initially seemed unlikely is actually plausible. Ultimately, he proposes four criteria for evaluating claims of divine contact with flesh and blood. The evidence in favor of a convincing claim must be: (1) genuinely miraculous in the sense of describing effects that are clearly transformative and beyond human powers to produce; (2) witnessed by multitudes; (3) seen with their own eyes; and (4) capable of being studied and examined repeatedly.