—would not undertake more than a single surah of the Quran, or something comparable to it; the Quran weighed heavily upon them (1), and they were granted both knowledge of it and the ability to act upon it (2). Yet in the latter days of this community the Quran will be made light for people, so that even a child or a non-Arab will recite it while knowing nothing of it (3)—or, he said, “they will not act upon any of it” (4).
The ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim al-Lalikaʾī states in his celebrated work Exposition of the Foundations of the Creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah (5), after recounting the disciplinary measures taken by the leading imams against the people of innovation:
“The Commander of the Faithful al-Qādir bi-llāh (6)—may Allah protect his life, extend success to his affairs, and enable him in word and deed to attain what pleases his Sovereign (7)—summoned the Hanafī Muʿtazilite jurists to repent in the year 408 AH. They publicly recanted and disavowed Muʿtazilism.
He then forbade them from engaging in kalām (speculative theology), teaching, or disputation concerning Muʿtazilism, rafḍ (8), and doctrines that oppose Islam [and the sunnah] (9), and he took…"