the Jahmiyya and the philosophers, whose innovation rests on what they themselves acknowledge to be contrary to the known teachings of the prophets. Those others, however, believe that what they have introduced is what is known from the prophets’ teachings, and that it is correct in their estimation.

The two approaches of religious innovators to the prophetic texts.

First — The approach of alteration:
Those who adopt alteration fall into two categories. Proponents of illusion and imaginative representation

The two approaches of religious innovators to the prophetic texts.

First — The approach of alteration:
Those who adopt alteration fall into two categories.

Proponents of illusion and imaginative representation

These people take two approaches to the prophetic texts: alteration and attributing ignorance.

Those who adopt alteration fall into two categories: proponents of illusion and imaginative representation, and proponents of distortion and reinterpretation.

The proponents of illusion and imaginative representation are those who say that the prophets spoke about Allah, the Last Day, Paradise and Hell, and even the angels, in terms that did not correspond to reality. Rather, they addressed people in terms that led them to imagine and suppose that Allah is an immense body, that bodies will be resurrected, and that they will experience pleasures and punishments perceptible to the senses—even though, in reality, matters are not so—because it serves the interests of the masses to address them in terms that lead them to suppose