alike with respect to praise and blame. One of them will say, “The people of truth say,” or “The people of monotheism say,” and similar expressions. They may even claim faith or friendship with Allah Most High exclusively for themselves, as do the Rāfidah, the Muʿtazilah, and groups of extremist Sufis. These people bear a resemblance to the People of the Book who said:

“None will enter Paradise unless they are Jews or Christians.”

[al-Baqarah: 111]

They said that the abode of the Hereafter with Allah would be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection, and claimed that they were Allah’s children and His beloved. One of these people calls someone who affirms an attribute of Allah an assimilator and a corporealist, although he himself has affirmed something comparable or even more pronounced. He calls someone who negates an attribute a denier of the attributes, although he himself has negated something comparable to what that person negated.

Sixteenth point:

The response is that the root of ignorance, misguidance, heresy, hypocrisy, deviation, disbelief, and denial of the divine attributes in this matter is the rejection, negation, and repudiation of Allah’s attributes shared by the Dahriyyah and the Jahmiyyah, without any proof whatsoever. Rather, if they gave the proofs their due, those proofs would necessarily establish the attributes. Despite sharing this corrupt foundation, they then split into opposing sides in debate and dispute, each group having its share of falsehood.

This first arose within Islam through the Jahmiyyah’s debates with the Dahriyyah, as Imam Ahmad—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—mentioned in his account of Jahm’s debate with the Sumaniyyah, who belonged to the Dahriyyah, when they denied the Maker, although