his assertion of indwelling, in which he resembled the Christians, is of the same kind as the discourse of those who affirm indwelling.

The purpose here is to indicate the nature of the discourse of the early generations and the Muslim community in relation to that of these negationists, and that they all drink from a single source. The arguments these deniers of the divine attributes put forward against those who deny the Maker are inadequate, resembling Jahm’s arguments against the polytheist Sumaniyya and those of the Peripatetic metaphysicians against the naturalist philosophers.

Ahmad mentioned that Jahm relied on three Quranic verses whose meanings are unclear to those who do not understand them: the verse negating apprehension, which he used to deny vision of Allah and His distinctness from creation; the verse negating any likeness, which he used to deny the attributes and to brand anyone who affirmed them as likening Allah to creation; and His words:

“He is Allah in the heavens and on earth.”
Al-An'ām 3

He used this to deny Allah’s exaltedness above the Throne, or additionally to affirm indwelling, union, and His lack of distinctness from created beings.

These are the foundational doctrines of the Jahmiyya among the Mu'tazilites—the followers of 'Amr ibn 'Ubayd—and of those among the followers of Abū Hanīfa, Mālik, al-Shāfi'ī, and Ahmad who adopted Jahmism, Mu'tazilism, or some of their offshoots, although these imams were among those furthest removed from the foundational doctrines of the Jahmiyya and the Mu'tazilites.

[Continuation of Imam Ahmad’s discussion]

Imam Ahmad said concerning the Jahmiyya: “If people ask them about His words