the Basran Mālikī imam. He said:

“According to Mālik and his companions, the people of deviant inclinations whose testimony is inadmissible are the practitioners of speculative theology.”

He said:

“Thus, every practitioner of speculative theology belongs, according to Mālik and his companions, to the people of deviant inclinations and religious innovation. Every practitioner of speculative theology is regarded by them as belonging to the people of deviant inclinations, whether Ash‘arī or otherwise.”

This is how Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr reported it from him, and Abū Hāmid quoted it from Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, but expressed it indirectly rather than stating it explicitly.

Abū Hāmid said:

“Abū Yūsuf said: ‘Whoever seeks knowledge through speculative theology becomes a heretic.’”