—anything in the heaven.”

Al-Marwazi said: I heard Ahmad al-Durqi say, “I heard Yazid ibn Harun mention the Jahmites; he declared, ‘They are unbelievers who worship nothing.’ ”

Al-Marwazi also related: Isma‘il ibn Abi Karima narrated to us; I heard Yazid ibn Harun say, “The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah. May Allah curse Jahm and anyone who espouses his view; such a person is a stubborn disbeliever. Jahm abandoned the prayer for forty days, claiming he was ‘seeking a religion’—in truth, he was doubting Islam.”

Al-Khallal said: Harb al-Karmani informed me; Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah narrated to us; Qasim al-‘Umari narrated; ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Habib narrated, from his father, from his grandfather Habib, who said: I was present when Khalid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Qasri addressed the people in Wasit on the Day of Sacrifice. He proclaimed, “People, return and offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept them from you. As for me, I shall sacrifice al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham, for he alleges that Allah did not take Abraham as a friend and did not speak to Moses directly. Exalted is Allah, far above what al-Ja‘d claims.” He then descended and slaughtered him.

Jahm ibn Safwan adopted his doctrine from al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham. Al-Ja‘d was from Harran, and Marwan al-Ja‘di—the last Umayyad caliph—was named after him. Harran was home to the leading Sabian philosophers who asserted the eternity of the universe and denied the divine attributes; from them Abu Nasr al-Farabi absorbed this view when he entered Harran. It is said that al-Ja‘d likewise took from them the negation of the attributes, which led him to deny Allah’s Speech and His love, leaving no place for Him to have a conversant or a friend.

This, despite the fact that the philosophers themselves differ over whether the universe is eternal or created, and even their foremost authorities