seeing Allah from the standpoint of those who affirm it, setting out their argument for it. Undoubtedly, this revealed enough of the Muʿtazilites’ ability to lord it over them to gratify his heart. For this reason, many scholars and hadith scholars came to describe these people’s statements as containing hypocrisy and contradiction: they agree with Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah on some aspects of the truth, yet oppose them where the latter have the stronger claim to truth. Moreover, they interpret the very points on which they agree in a way that diverts them from their true meaning.

All this stems from their confusion over these questions and from what they perceived as conflicting evidence. We ask Allah to forgive all believers and set right their worldly affairs, their affairs in the Hereafter, and their religion. Indeed, He has power over all things.

Something of the same kind may also be found among their opponents who affirm these matters: they become intensely preoccupied with their disputes with their brethren—who agree with them on most of what they affirm—over some of the subtlest