For al-Qādī is one of his followers. He and other followers of Ahmad may agree with those who affirm the attributes on some of their positions, relying on weak hadiths and weak inferences. They may also agree with those who deny the attributes on some of their positions, such as rejecting designations that they claim reason has ruled out, including “substance,” “body,” and the like. Neither of these positions belongs to the teaching of the early generations and the imams.

Among Ahmad’s followers, one finds the same tendencies toward negation and affirmation as among others. Yet they are closer to moderation in both approaches and less extreme in either than others, because Imam Ahmad established the foundations of the Sunnah as no one else did. His followers therefore cannot go as far as others in deviating from the Sunnah and moderation. Nevertheless, some among them may deviate toward negation, affirmation, or both together, whether through inconsistency or differing scholarly judgments.

Perhaps this report that he interpreted only such-and-such passages figuratively originally came from