and a full discussion of it would be lengthy.

I say: We have already discussed this passage, its acceptable and unacceptable elements, its effective dismissal of the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—its referral of people to imaginings and unknowns, and its opening the door to hypocrisy. We explained this in The Egyptian Responses.

The point here is that Abū Hāmid spoke within the limits of his knowledge and of the statements of the early generations and the imams that had reached him. His discussion of this matter is therefore gravely deficient. For Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s statements on the fundamentals fill the world, and he authored works on the subject. On every issue, he adduced abundant evidence and cited the words of Allah, His Messenger, the Companions, and the Successors, as Allah willed. He debated the Jahmiyyah and others who distorted the subject of faith in Allah and the Last Day. Yet despite all this, he did not have