—and others as well. Indeed, they went so far as to pronounce them unbelievers, speaking of them in a manner they never used for anyone (1) among the sects driven by their own whims. They even expelled them from the seventy-two (2) factions, declaring: “We can repeat the words of the Jews and the Christians, yet we cannot repeat the words of the Jahmites (3).”
Yet you have agreed with the Jahmites among the Muʿtazilites and others on this very point, while the issues on which you diverge from them resemble the case of one (4) who believes in part of the Book and disbelieves in part—though your stance is (5) closer to disbelief than to faith. This alignment has led to two grave corruptions:
The first is that the Muʿtazilites and those like them have gained ascendancy over you. Having joined them in this denial, your remaining affirmation that the Beatific Vision will occur and that the Qur’an is uncreated strikes the majority of rational people as an assertion devoid of reason. By the innovations you introduced regarding divine speech and the vision, you isolated yourselves from all the other groups of the ummah, and the Muʿtazilites thereby grew stronger against you (6) and against Ahl al-Sunnah (7), even though you had already refuted
(1) The text between the brackets is an addition found in manuscripts S and T.
(2) All copies read “seventy”; the correct reading is the one I have adopted.
(3) This view is attributed to Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak. See: al-Sunnah by Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, p. 7; and Majmuʿat al-Rasa’il wa-l-Masa’il by Ibn Taymiyya, The Treatise “The Doctrine of the Righteous Salaf in Confirming the Issue of the Speech of the Noble God,” vol. 3, pp. 344–345. It states that the doctrine most widely held—namely, that of Imam Ahmad and the majority of the imams of the Sunnah—is to declare the Jahmiyya (those who deny divine attributes) as unbelievers, since their doctrine explicitly contradicts what the messengers delivered. In essence, they deny the Maker and deny what He has revealed about Himself through His Messenger. Among many of the Salaf—such as Ibn al-Mubarak and Yusuf ibn Asbat—and a group of Imam Ahmad’s companions, the Jahmiyya are not counted among the seventy-two sects into which this community is said to split. This matter is discussed above on p. 695.
(4) In manuscript S it reads “lakin” (“but”), which is a scribal error.
(5) The original reads “alhu,” which makes no sense; the reading found in manuscripts S and T replaces it.
(6) Manuscripts S and T read “bidhalika alaykum” (“thus upon you”).
(7) The text within the brackets is an addition found in manuscript T.