the Quran is uncreated entails that Allah is a body. Ahmad replied that he did not know what the person making this statement meant by it and therefore would not assent to it. Rather, he knew that Allah is One, the Self-Sufficient; He neither begets nor is born, and none is equal to Him.

For the speculative theologians who disputed whether to affirm or deny that Allah is a body—such as the Hishāmiyyah, Karrāmiyyah and others who affirmed it, and the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah and others who denied it—may each include within this meanings that contradict the revealed texts. Some who affirm it include imperfections and resemblance to created beings, from which Allah must be declared free. Those who deny it include in their denial the attributes of perfection that Allah has affirmed for Himself.

Some Hanbalīs explicitly deny it, such as Abū al-Hasan al-Tamīmī and his family, Judge Abū Ya'lā and his followers, and others who followed the approach of Ibn Kullāb and al-Ash'arī in this matter. Others follow the approach of the Mu'tazilah, such as Ibn 'Aqīl, Sadaqah ibn al-Husayn, Ibn al-Jawzī and others.

Among those who do not affirm it, or who deny it, many explicitly declare corporealists to be disbelievers. Some say: “Whoever says, ‘He is a body,’ has disbelieved, while whoever says, ‘He is not a body,’ has introduced an innovation.” Others consider it correct to say, “He is not a body,” and declare those who profess corporealism to be disbelievers.

Al-Ash'arī attributed this denial to Ahl al-Sunnah and the people of hadith in his Maqālāt, just as he attributed other views to them on the basis of his own understanding of their doctrine.

The early generations, the imams, and the adherents of hadith and the pure Sunnah from all groups describe Allah only as He has described Himself or as His Messenger has described Him.

As for terms