Ibn ʿUyaynah was asked about the issue and answered to the same effect. He said (1): “So I went to Wakīʿ and found him the most knowledgeable of them. He said, ‘They are declared unbelievers on this ground and on that ground, until I have deemed them unbelievers on numerous grounds.’”
I said: Likewise I have observed that al-Jāḥiẓ (2) poured scorn on Ḥammād ibn Salamah (3) and on Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh (4), the judge of Basra, in a way he did not do to anyone else (5). The reason is that Ḥammād was devoted to gathering and publicizing the hadiths that deal with the divine attributes, and when Muʿādh assumed the judiciary he rejected the testimony of the Jahmiyyah and the Qadariyyah, refusing to accept the testimony of the Muʿtazilah. They reported him to the caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd, but when the caliph met him he praised him for that stand and honored him. Thus, because of their hostility toward men of this stature—men who are imams of the sunnah—they malign them for matters which, on close investigation (6), provide no grounds for censure.
As for what al-Ashʿarī related from Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ, that a group said: “Indeed…"
(1) “Al-Qa’il” (the speaker) refers to the questioner; his name is not specified in Khalaq Af‘al al-Ibad (Creation of the Actions of the Servants).
(2) Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr ibn Mahbub al-Kinani, known as al-Jahiz, was one of the Imams of the Mu’tazila; after him they were called Jahiziyya. He studied under Abu Ishaq al-Nizam. Historians of sects record his theological errors and scandals. He died in 255 AH. See: al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 12: 212–225; Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-Mizan, vol. 4: 355–357; al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-Furuq, pp. 175–178; al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, Tabaqat al-Mu’tazila, pp. 261–263.
(3) He authored a treatise on al-Sifat (the Attributes); see his biography, p. 147.
(4) Abu al-Muthanna Muadh ibn Muadh ibn Nasr ibn Hassan al-Anbari al-Tamimi served twice as judge of Basra. He was among the most reliable transmitters of hadith; al-Nasa’i describes him as “trustworthy and sound.” He died in 196 AH. See: Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa’l-Tadil, vol. 4/1: 248–249; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A’lam al-Nubala’, vol. 9: 54–57; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, vol. 10: 194–195.
(5) The words in parentheses are an addition found in manuscripts S and T.
(6) The original reading is bimadha; the form adopted here is supported by manuscripts S and T.