The innovations used to oppose the Quran and Sunnah—which their proponents call speculative theology, rational thought, philosophy, spiritual intuitions, inner experiences, realities, or other such names—necessarily involve mixing truth with falsehood and concealing the truth. This is an observable fact, recognizable to anyone who considers it. You will never find an innovator who does not favour concealing the scriptural texts that contradict him. He detests those texts, detests their being brought to light, transmitted and discussed, and detests those who do so. As one of the early scholars said:

“No one introduces an innovation without the sweetness of hadith being stripped from his heart.”

Moreover, the assertions with which he opposes the scriptural texts necessarily mix truth with falsehood, owing to his use of vague and ambiguous expressions.

This is why Imam Ahmad wrote the following at the beginning of his Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah Concerning Their Doubts about Ambiguous Passages of the Quran and Their Misinterpretation of Them, which he composed during his imprisonment. Al-Khallāl mentioned this work in his Book of the Sunnah, as did Judge Abū Ya‘lā, Abū al-Fadl al-Tamīmī, Abū al-Wafā’ ibn ‘Aqīl and several other followers of Ahmad; none of them denied that it was his. He began:

“Praise be to Allah, who has preserved, in every age without messengers, a remnant of scholars who call those who have gone astray to guidance and patiently endure the harm they inflict. Through the Book of Allah they bring the dead to life, and through the light of Allah they give sight to the blind. How many victims slain by Iblīs have they revived, and how many lost wanderers have they guided! How good is their effect upon people, and how grievous is people’s effect upon them! They defend the Book of Allah against the distortions of extremists, the fabrications of those who promote falsehood, and the interpretations of the ignorant, who have raised the banners of innovation and let loose the reins of discord. They differ over the Book, oppose the Book, and are agreed on