O heretics! (5), and many other such words (1). Then I got up, asked that the door be opened, and returned to my place.
Here I have written down some matters connected to this ordeal which they demanded of me today, setting out part of what it contains of altering the religion and following a way other than that of the believers, for in that lies benefit for the Muslims. There are many aspects to this, and we shall record of them whatever Allah, Exalted be He, makes easy (2).
First Aspect
This statement enjoins an innovated formulation that has not been transmitted from Allah, from any of His messengers, or from any of the predecessors and leading scholars of the ummah. Rather, it is the invention of certain speculative theologians of the Jahmiyyah (3), who therein described their Lord with the descriptions they concocted and, in it, prohibited the speech of Allah and the speech of His Messenger by which Allah described Himself and His Messenger described Him (4).
= In works on sects, this term is not limited to any single group; however, the author of Muruj al-Dhahab (The Meadows of Gold)—as does Ibn al-Nadim—applies it to the followers of Mani and the adherents of his doctrine.
See Muruj al-Dhahab by al-Mas’udi, vol. I, pp. 250–251; al-Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim, p. 472 ff.
To learn more about the zindiqs (heretics) and some of their sects, and the meaning of zindiqa (heresy) before and after Islam and its origins, consult al-Zindiqa wa al-Zanadiqa by Atif Shukri Abu ’Awad, especially pp. 69–79, 107–113, 123–172.
(1) In the manuscript it reads “kalam” (speech), which is an error.
(2) In the printed edition it reads “yusrih.”
(3) Al-Jahmiyya are the followers of Jahm ibn Safwan, one of the heretical sects. They advocate predestination (jabr) and compulsion in human actions, attributing deeds metaphorically to created beings. They assert that iman (faith) is mere knowledge of God and that kufr (unbelief) is ignorance of Him, and they deny the eternal existence of Paradise and Hell, among other deviations and innovations. See al-Farq bayna al-Firaq, p. 211; al-Milal wa al-Nihal (The Religions and Sects) by al-Shahrastani, vol. I, p. 86.
(4) In the original manuscript it reads “wa wasaf,” the only reading that makes coherent sense.