They said, “Yes.”
We replied, “The Muslims already know that you affirm nothing whatsoever; you merely fend off public reproach with the statements you make in public (1).”
So we said to them, “This very One who ‘directs’ (2) the affairs—is He not the One who spoke to Moses?”
They answered, “He neither spoke nor does He speak, because speech can only occur through a bodily organ, and bodily organs (3) are impossible (4) for Allah.”
When (5) an uninformed person hears their words, he imagines that they are among the people who most revere Allah, yet he does not realize that what their statement (6) ultimately leads to is misguidance (7) and disbelief.
Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari likewise said (8) in his book al-Ibānah (9), in the chapter entitled “Refutation of the Heretical (10) Jahmiyyah for their denial of Allah’s knowledge and power” (11):
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
(1) In al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya: “bima tutahhirunah” (“with which you purify them”).
(2) Text enclosed in quotation marks is an addition found in manuscripts S and T and in al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya.
(3) “’an Allāh” (“from Allah”) is omitted in al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya.
(4) In manuscript S and in al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya: “manfiyya” (“negated”).
(5) In al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya: “fa-idhā” (“so when”).
(6) In al-Uṣūl: “yaqūlūna” (“they say”); in manuscripts S and T: “yaqūdūna”; the attested reading is that of al-Radd ’ala al-Jahmiyya.
(7) In manuscripts S and T: “dalāl” (“error”).
(8) al-Ibānah ’an Uṣūl al-Dīn (Clarification of the Principles of the Faith) by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arī, pp. 107–108.
(9) al-Ibānah ’an Uṣūl al-Dīn (Clarification of the Principles of the Faith) is al-Ash‘arī’s final work, in which he expounds his creed, affirms his affiliation with Imam Aḥmad (d. 241 AH), refutes Mu‘tazilite positions, and establishes proofs of their invalidity. First printed in Hyderabad (1321 AH) and Cairo (1348 AH), with numerous subsequent editions. See C. Brockelmann, History of Arabic Literature, vol. 4, p. 40; F. Sezgin, History of Arabic Heritage: Creed and Sufism, 1:4, 38–39; ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Badawī, Madhāhib al-Islāmiyyīn, 1:515–518; and the introduction to al-Ibānah, ed. ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Arnā’ūṭ (by Bashīr ‘Uyūn), pp. 3–6.
(10) “zunādqa” (“heretics”) is omitted in manuscripts S and T and in al-Ibānah.
(11) In the original: “wa qawwatuhu” (“and his strength”); the reading confirmed in manuscripts S and T and in al-Ibānah.