this category: those who maintain that Allah is a body occupying space in a direction and those who deny this; those who maintain that Allah compels His servants and those who deny this; and similar vague, ambiguous statements containing both truth and falsehood on both sides of the denial and affirmation.

The use of the terms (body), (substance), and (accident) in discussions of the divine attributes falls into this category.

Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī said—in a report cited through him by Shaykh al-Islām in Dhamm al-kalām (The Censure of Speculative Theology):

“I heard Abū Nasr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Sijzī say: ‘I heard my father say: I asked Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn Surayj, “What is the affirmation of Allah’s oneness?” He replied: “The affirmation of Allah’s oneness upheld by the scholars and the Muslim community is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. The affirmation of His oneness upheld by the people of falsehood consists in delving into accidents and bodies. Yet the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent to denounce that very thing.”’”

The purpose here is to demonstrate the unsoundness of approaches that oppose the Quran and Sunnah. As for explaining how the Quran and Sunnah contain the approaches through which one comes to know Allah and to believe in Him, His messengers, and the Last Day, this is discussed elsewhere.

[Continuation of al-Ghazālī’s discussion in al-Ihyāʾ]

Abū Hāmid also said, when discussing the branches of knowledge:

“If you say, ‘You have not included speculative theology and philosophy among the branches of knowledge or explained whether they are praiseworthy or