“He said: ‘My judgment concerning speculative theologians is that they should be beaten with palm stalks and paraded among the clans and tribes, while it is proclaimed: “This is the punishment of one who abandons the Book and the Sunnah and turns to speculative theology.”’”

He said:

“And Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: ‘A speculative theologian will never succeed. You will scarcely find anyone who has engaged in speculative theology without corruption in his heart.’”

He said:

“He went so far in this regard that he shunned al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī, despite his asceticism and scrupulous piety, because he had written a book refuting the proponents of innovation. He said: ‘Woe to you! Do you not first recount their innovations and then refute them? Does not your writing induce people to study innovation and ponder those specious arguments, thereby drawing them into speculation and investigation?’”

[Ibn Taymiyya’s comment]

I say: Ahmad did not shun al-Hārith for the reason Abū Hāmid mentioned. Rather, he shunned him because he followed the position of Ibn Kullāb, who agreed with the Mu‘tazilites