of Basra are closer to affirming the divine attributes than those of Baghdad. Al-Ashʿarī initially belonged to their ranks, as a follower of Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbā’ī, their leading authority at the time. Perhaps al-Ashʿarī took this line of analogical reasoning from them. If these people affirm perception through touch, smell, and taste on the basis of analogy, then what of the adherents of hadith and transmitted reports, who affirm more? Nevertheless, the followers of Imam Ahmad and others disagree over affirming this, just as they disagree over His being upon the Throne: whether it involves contact, whether it is without contact or adjacency, or whether this is neither affirmed nor denied. These are three positions held among the followers of Ahmad and other groups.