the Muʿtazilites, to the point that it was said(1): “Al-Ashʿarī wedged a stone into the mouth of the sesame grinder for them,”(2) meaning that he completely blocked their way. This, too, is accurate, for he exposed the contradictions at the root of their doctrine. He was thoroughly acquainted with their schools, having been a pupil of Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbāʾī and having studied Muʿtazilite fundamentals under him for forty years.

When he later adopted the method of Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd ibn Kullāb,(3) which is nearer to the Sunnah than that of the Muʿtazilites—affirming the divine attributes, Allah’s exaltedness, and His separateness from creation, and even demonstrating that exaltedness rationally—al-Ashʿarī, armed with his expertise in Muʿtazilite principles, laid bare their contradictions and corruptions so effectively that he subdued the Muʿtazilites. By further revealing the inconsistencies of the Muʿtazilites, the Rāfiḍites, the philosophers, and others,(4) he attained the respect and stature he came to enjoy, for

“Indeed Allah does not wrong even as much as an atom’s weight; and if there is a good deed, He multiplies it and grants from Himself a tremendous reward.”(5)

Yet al-Ashʿarī still fell short of Ibn Kullāb’s path, while you have diverged from both Ibn Kullāb and al-Ashʿarī: you have denied the transmitted attributes, you have denied His exaltedness, and the best among you construes it