294 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Hamīd narrated to us: Zuhayr ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Muʿāwiya ibn ʿAmr narrated to us, from Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī, who said: Al-Awzāʿī said regarding a man who was asked, “Are you a believer?” He said:

“Asking such a question is an innovation, and testifying that one is so is an overreach with which we have not been charged in our religion and which our Prophet did not prescribe. The person who asks ⦗674⦘ about this has no precedent to follow. Speaking of it is disputation, and contention over it is a newly introduced matter. By my life, your testimony concerning yourself does not establish that reality for you if you are not truly so; nor does your refraining from testifying thus concerning yourself remove you from faith if you are truly so.

“The person who questioned you about your faith does not actually doubt it of you. Rather, he seeks to vie with Allah—Glorified and Exalted is He—in His knowledge of the matter by claiming that his knowledge of it and the knowledge of Allah—Glorified and Exalted is He—are equal. So hold yourself steadfastly to the sunnah, stop where the people stopped, say what they said, refrain from what they refrained from, and follow the path of your righteous predecessors. What was sufficient for them is sufficient for you.

“The people of Syria had been unaware of this innovation until some Iraqis who had embraced it cast it among them, after the jurists and scholars of Iraq had refuted them. It then permeated the hearts of some groups among the Syrians, and their tongues became its weapons. Consequently, they were afflicted by the same dissension that afflicted others. Yet I do not despair that Allah—Glorified and Exalted is He—will ward off the evil of this innovation until they become brothers in their religion. There is no might or power except through Allah.”

Al-Awzāʿī then said:

“Had this been something good, you would not have been singled out for it to the exclusion of ⦗675⦘ your forebears. No good was withheld from them and stored up for you instead because of some merit you possess. They were the Companions of our Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—whom Allah—Glorified and Exalted is He—chose, among whom He sent him, and together with whom He described him. He—Majestic and Exalted is He—said: ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Those who are with him are stern against the disbelievers and compassionate among themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating, seeking bounty from Allah and His pleasure. Their mark is upon their faces from the trace of prostration’ [al-Fath: 29], to the end of the surah.”