may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and claimed that whoever ascribed to Allah any attribute with which He described Himself in His Book, or which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, related concerning Him, was an unbeliever and one of those who liken Allah to His creation. He thus led many people astray. Men among the followers of Abū Hanīfah and the followers of ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd in Basra adopted his teaching, and he established the religion of the Jahmiyyah.

When people ask them how to interpret the words of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, “There is nothing like Him” [al-Shūrā 11], they say: ‘Nothing whatsoever is like Him. He is beneath the seventh earth just as He is upon the Throne. No place is devoid of Him, and He is not in one place to the exclusion of another. He neither speaks nor is spoken to. No one sees Him in this world, and no one sees Him in the Hereafter. He is not described, nor known by any attribute, nor comprehended. He has no limit, nor