—peace and blessings be upon him—nor during the time of the Companions. Rather, it is a newly-contrived opinion, and they maintain that the first person to propound it (1) was Jahm b. Safwan. Jahm—as we have been informed—was known for neither learning, piety, nor righteousness. He was merely given a warped tongue with which he argued on the basis of personal opinion. He used to dispute with the Samaniyyah, a group akin to the Magians who venerate idols. They pressed him (2) so hard that he abandoned the prayer for forty days, no longer knowing his Lord. Their discourse leads directly to unbelief. We set out their words (3) before more than one jurist (4) and man of insight, and in the end (5) they all concluded that it culminates in outright heresy; once a person becomes steeped in their doctrine, he abandons the prayer and pursues his lusts.

Jahm’s associate was Abu al-Jawzaʾ (6), who—so we have heard—was even more forceful in their cause than Jahm himself. He lived in Farayab (7), and some of its upright inhabitants told us that he gave up the prayer, drank wine, followed his desires, and led a multitude of people astray. We seek refuge in Allah from misguidance after guidance. I know of no people who have spoken within Islam with words more wicked than theirs; the entire Quran demolishes their claims.

It has also reached us that some of them say, “What undermines our doctrine (8) is the Quran itself.”