I say:

The position of Dirār and al-Najjār and their followers, such as Barghūth and Hafs, and that of Bishr al-Marīsī and similar speculative theologians whom al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and other imams condemned, contains no denial of divine decree; rather, it affirms it. They condemned them only because their position denies attributes with which Allah has described Himself. Nevertheless, the position of al-Najjār and Dirār is better than that of the Mu‘tazilah. Their position concerning the vision of Allah resembles that of those Ash‘arīs and others who deny that Allah is above creation while affirming that He will be seen. The reasoning on which they based these denials rests on the three principles mentioned earlier. They have no others: the arguments from accidents, composition, and particularization.

[Al-Khattābī’s Remarks in Dispensing with Speculative Theology and Its Practitioners]

Further clarification is provided by what Shaykh Abū Sulaymān al-Khattābī wrote in his well-known treatise, Dispensing with Speculative Theology and Its Practitioners. He said:

“I have taken note of your statement, of the views of speculative theologians that have surfaced in it, of the discussions of those who delve into them, and of the inclination towards them of some who profess to follow the Sunnah, and their being misled by them,