I know of no disagreement among them on this matter. Those who rejected it were only some of their later scholars. All of al-Ash‘arī’s books clearly affirm this, as we have shown from his works above, and as is also found in works that have not reached us but to which he himself refers. An example is what Abū al-Qāsim ibn ‘Asākir cited in Tabyīn kadhib al-muftarī fīmā nusiba ilā Abī al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī (Exposing the Slanderer’s Lies concerning What Has Been Attributed to Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī), after saying:

“We must therefore faithfully relate his actual creed, so that the soundness of his religious beliefs may be known. Listen, then, to what he stated in al-Ibāna.”

For he said:

“Praise be to Allah, the One, the Almighty, the Glorious, unique in His oneness, glorified in praise, who transcends the attributes of His servants and has neither likeness nor equal.”

He quoted the introductory address in full, up to the words:

“If someone says, ‘You have rejected the teachings of the Mu‘tazila, the Qadariyya, the Jahmiyya, the Harūriyya, the Rāfida, and the Murji’a; then tell us