al-Ash‘arī’s best-known and latest works. For this reason, the hadith scholar Abū Bakr al-Sam‘ānī relied on it [هـ] in his book The Creed, quoting from it in several places and mentioning none of al-Ash‘arī’s other works. Likewise, the hadith scholar Abū al-Qāsim ibn ‘Asākir, in the book he authored and entitled Exposing the Slanderer’s Lies concerning What Is Attributed to Shaykh Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī, said after presenting a section on his merits:

“If, then, Abū al-Hasan was, as reported of him, sound in creed and considered correct in doctrine by those versed in scholarship