reality, denying that He is living, knowing, and powerful, in agreement with the heretical unbelievers who deny His names, as Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī said in al-Ibānah:

“The Jahmīs and Qadarīs claimed that Allah Most High has no knowledge, power, life, hearing, or sight. They intended to deny that Allah is knowing, powerful, living, hearing, and seeing, but fear of the sword prevented them from openly expressing this denial. They therefore expressed the same meaning in other terms. For if they say that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has no knowledge or power, they have thereby said that He is neither knowing nor powerful; this is the necessary consequence of their position.”

Abū al-Hasan said:

“They took this only from the proponents of heresy and the denial of divine attributes, for many of the heretics said that He is neither knowing, nor powerful, nor living, nor hearing, nor seeing. The Mu‘tazilīs could not state this openly, so they expressed the same meaning by saying that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is knowing, powerful, living, hearing, and seeing in name alone, without affirming for Allah knowledge, power, hearing, or sight.”

Their true position is Qarmatianism in matters of revelation and sophistry in