and Judge Abū Bakr and others like him a well-known bond of harmony and close association. Judge Abū Bakr would sometimes sign his answers to questions “Muhammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Hanbalī,” and would also use “al-Ashʿarī.” Hence, the views of the Tamīmīs are close to his views and those of others like him who followed Ibn Kullāb’s approach. When Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī wished to present Imam Ahmad’s creed in his book on the Imam’s merits, he relied on the creed composed by Abū al-Fadl al-Tamīmī. This contrasts with Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Battah, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Ibn Hāmid, and others like them, who opposed the foundational doctrine of the Kullābiyyah.

Al-Ashʿarī and the leading scholars among his followers—such as Abū al-Hasan al-Tabarī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mujāhid al-Bāhilī, and Judge Abū Bakr—agreed on affirming the attributes reported in revelation and mentioned in the Quran, such as His rising over the Throne, His Face, and His Hand, and on rejecting figurative reinterpretations of them. Al-Ashʿarī held no two different positions whatsoever on this matter, nor has anyone ever attributed two positions to him concerning it. Rather, all who recount doctrinal views, whether his followers or others, report that this was his position. His followers, however, held two different positions on this matter.