and was held by the Mu'tazilah, from whom some of the Ash'arīs adopted it, and ultimately led by necessary implication to the doctrine of the eternalists, as we have explained, people spoke out about this. Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismā'īl 'Abd Allāh ibn Muhammad al-Ansārī even said in his well-known book condemning speculative theology and its adherents:

“When the foremost scholars of the Muslim community and the discerning among the people of the Sunnah examined the hidden implications of the Jahmiyyah’s discourse and their claims concerning the doctrines of