—among them are those who attribute their own position to him and quote a statement in his name. Yet when a question becomes the subject of such widespread dispute that the testimonies neutralize one another, we postpone judgment on it, virtually treating it as though it had never been put forward.

Even more astonishing is what has been reported about him—something that is surely a fabrication, for, by Allah’s grace, he was a man of sound guidance—namely the claim that he said: “Whoever maintains that the recitation is created is a Jahmite, and the Jahmite is a disbeliever; and whoever maintains that it is uncreated is an innovator, and every innovation is deviation.” How, then