or not? Some of the early scholars—such as Yūsuf ibn Asbāṭ and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak—held that the seventy-two sects are the Khārijites, the Shīʿah, the Qadarites, and the Murjiʾites; consequently, they excluded the Jahmites from being counted among the seventy-two. This is also the position of a number of Imām Aḥmad’s disciples and others.

In any case, the Jahmites appeared in Islam only after these four innovations had already arisen. As for the Companions and the Successors, they were unanimously agreed upon affirming everything the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—brought concerning God’s Names and Attributes, the Last Day, and the prescribed acts of worship.

Furthermore, be aware that, in several respects touching belief and practice, the Christians and Jews are better than these people. In their classification, doctrine falls under theoretical wisdom, while acts of worship belong to practical wisdom.

Our focus here is practical wisdom. The Jews and Christians acknowledge the obligation of worship, that God alone is worthy of worship, and that distinct reward and punishment will follow—together with the great Resurrection, the reuniting of bodies with souls, and other truths conveyed by the messengers. However, they altered part of what the messengers had brought and did not follow the abrogating rulings within their own scriptures; they believed in part of the Book and rejected part, and thus fell into the unbelief that overtook them after they had distorted and abrogated the first Scripture.

Nevertheless, the original religion of the Jews and Christians contains no notion that prescribed acts of worship ever cease to be obligatory for anyone, nor that the sacred prohibitions become permissible for anyone.