This is an innovated doctrine in Islam, one to which none of the Companions, their righteous successors, or the other leading scholars of the Muslims ever subscribed. Yet many books of scholastic theology record no other Muslim position but this, and some writers even attribute it to the majority of Muslims. The reason is that those who cite it—such as Fakhr al-Rāzī and the like—are unfamiliar with the statements of the Companions, their Followers, and the great jurists concerning the fundamentals of faith. They know only the opinions of the Jahmites, the Muʿtazilites, and other recent practitioners of kalām, all of whom the early generations and the leading imams regarded as innovators. Because these men debated the philosophers, much harm befell the Muslim community; they entered the fray while being profoundly ignorant of both rational and textual proofs.

The third view
is that espoused by those who maintain that only the spirits—the rational souls—will return, a claim upheld by certain philosophers.

The fourth
is the outright denial of any resurrection, the position of those who reject recompense after death—as was the case with the pagan Arabs and other nations. For this reason God has set forth the reality of the Resurrection in His Book through many different modes of clarification, as has been explained elsewhere.

Seventh consideration:
It may be said that after the soul departs the body, if it possesses no love or desire, it experiences no delight, for pleasure without love is neither intelligible nor existent—indeed, it is impossible. Hence, when they assert that once separated from the body the soul retains nothing but mere