include them under the general curse were some of the inhabitants of those regions—among them Ḥanafī Karrāmīs and others—as well as certain factions from the Ahl al-Hadith. Al-Dāmghānī’s reply was a broad ruling that pleased both sides, for he answered (1) that whoever undertakes to curse a group of Muslims and pronounce them unbelievers has introduced an innovation and done what is impermissible. [This is a matter on which no one differs: anyone who is counted among the Muslims may not] (2) be declared an unbeliever, for the person who performs takfīr on an individual or a group does not say, “They are Muslims and I still declare them unbelievers”; rather, he says, “They are not Muslims.”

He said (3) Abū al-Maʿālī al-Juwaynī (4): “Our imams (5) have maintained that the two hands, the two eyes, and the face are affirmed attributes of the Lord, Exalted is He, and that the path to establishing them is textual revelation, not rational inference.” He also said (6): “What we deem sound is to interpret the two hands as power, the two eyes as sight, and the face as existence.”