three claims: that there is no Lord in heaven, no Messenger in the Rawdah, and no Book on earth—as I heard Yahyā ibn Ammār pronounce against them. Even if they disguise these claims, conceal them through equivocation, and recoil from stating them openly, these are the necessary implications of their position.

They declared reliance on authority invalid, thereby declaring their fathers, mothers, spouses, and ordinary Muslims unbelievers. They made inquiry through speculative theology obligatory and claimed that religion necessarily depended upon it, thereby declaring the early generations of Muslims unbelievers. A faction among them said, “An obligation does not recur,” thereby nullifying the religious ordinances.