wrote his book al-Ibāna out of dissimulation, while his inner convictions in fact resembled those of his Muʿtazilī teachers, and that they are like hypocrites who outwardly agree with the adherents of the Sunnah and hadith but inwardly oppose them.

Moreover, anyone who examines al-Rāzī’s writings will find that, on many issues, he defends the position he espouses only out of dissimulation, not conviction, as he does on the questions of seeing Allah, the Quran, and similar matters. For his words imply that he is hypocritical toward his own associates, who are the later Ashʿarīs, let alone their predecessors.

Furthermore, al-Ashʿarī stated that the Muʿtazila are hypocritical in affirming Allah’s names. He said in al-Maqālāt:

“Praise be to Allah, who has shown us the error of those who err, the blindness of the blind, and the bewilderment of the bewildered—those who deny the attributes of the Lord of the worlds and say that Allah—exalted be His praise and sanctified be His names—has no attributes, and that He has no knowledge, power, life, hearing, sight, might, majesty, greatness, or grandeur. They say the same concerning all the other attributes ascribed to Allah Most High in Himself.”

He said: “This is a view they took from their brethren among the philosophers who