of the approach of Dāwūd and other adherents of the literalist school who reject analogical reasoning, went to great lengths in denying the attributes and reducing them to knowledge, even though he does not affirm knowledge as an attribute. He claims that Allah’s names, such as the All-Knowing and the All-Powerful, do not signify knowledge and power. He professes allegiance to Imam Ahmad and other imams of the Sunnah, claiming that his position is that of the people of Sunnah and hadith. He condemns al-Ash‘arī and his followers severely, claiming that they departed from the way of Sunnah and hadith concerning the attributes.

It is an indisputable fact that the position of al-Ash‘arī and his followers concerning the attributes is closer to that of the people of Sunnah and hadith than the position of Ibn Hazm and those like him.

Then the eternalist philosophers, such as al-Fārābī and Ibn Sīnā, claim that reason rules out bodily resurrection and that rational arguments must therefore take precedence over what revelation indicates. In arguing against resurrection, they address those who acknowledge it among the Mu‘tazilah and those who agree with them, just as the Mu‘tazilah address those who affirm the attributes. They say to them:

“Our approach to the texts concerning resurrection is the same as your approach to the texts concerning the attributes.”