and did not see Him with his eyes.”

Ibn Khuzaymah said: Ziyād ibn Ayyūb narrated to us, saying: Hushaym narrated to us; Mansūr informed us, from al-Hakam, from Yazīd ibn Sharīk, from Abū Dharr, who said: “He saw Him with his heart and did not see Him with his eyes.”

Imam Ahmad’s answer thus indicates that he approved of saying simply that he saw Him, without specifying whether with his eyes or with his heart. It does not, however, indicate that he prohibited either qualification. The evidence is that when al-Athram asked him, “What view do you hold on this?” he cited the report specifying that the vision was with the heart.

Some of Ahmad’s followers, however, treated this as a position transmitted from him: that the vision should be affirmed without either qualification. Yet remaining silent and adding a qualification are different from prohibiting qualification. If anyone supposes that Ahmad prohibited qualification, that is not the case. But if he says that Ahmad approved of leaving the statement unqualified, that is sound. Thus, there are not two positions transmitted from him, but a single position allowing both unqualified and qualified statements.