just as “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed Zayd ibn Thābit to learn the script used by the Jews, so that he could read and write it for him,” because he did not trust the Jews with that task.

The early generations and the leading scholars did not condemn speculative theology merely because it used newly coined technical terms such as substance, accident, body, and the like. Rather, they condemned it because the meanings expressed through these terms contain blameworthy falsehoods in their proofs and conclusions that must be prohibited. These terms encompass ambiguous meanings in both negation and affirmation. As Imām Ahmad said when describing the people of innovation:

“They disagree over the Book, oppose the Book, and agree on departing from the Book ... They speak in ambiguous terms and deceive the ignorant through the confusion they create for them..”

If the meanings they intend by such expressions are understood and weighed against the Quran and Sunnah—so that the truth affirmed by the Quran and Sunnah is affirmed, and the falsehood denied by the Quran and Sunnah is denied—then that is the right approach, unlike the course followed by those who follow their desires