‘Abd al-‘Azīz: “I heard al-Khallāl say that this hadith is narrated—despite an issue in its chain of transmission—only to corroborate other reports and because the Jahmiyyah reject it.”’

He said, “I also saw Abū Bakr ‘Abd al-‘Azīz’s answers to questions in Ibn Habīb’s handwriting. He said, ‘There is weakness in the hadith of Umm al-Tufayl, yet we affirm it.’”

Al-Qādī said, “The apparent meaning of the report of Ibrāhīm ibn Hāni’ indicates that the hadith is authentic, because Ahmad said to Ahmad ibn ‘Īsā, at his uncle’s house, ‘Narrate it to them.’ It would not be permissible for him to instruct him to narrate to them a hadith he believed to be weak, especially in matters concerning the divine attributes.”

He said, “Abū Zur‘ah al-Dimashqī also declared it authentic in what