innovators who propagate falsehood and level false and slanderous accusations against the people of the Sunnah.”

Then Ibn Fūrak said:

“Section. Our shaykh Abū al-Hasan—may Allah have mercy on him—after reporting in al-Maqālāt the general beliefs of the people of hadith in the wording we have quoted, went on to report the views of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘īd—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—in the words we shall now quote. He said—may Allah have mercy on him:

‘As for ‘Abd Allāh ibn Kullāb—may Allah have mercy on him—and his followers—may Allah be pleased with them—they affirm more than what we have related concerning the people of the Sunnah. They affirm that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has eternally possessed speech and generosity.’

He then repeated some of what he had already reported in general terms, to establish and emphasize it, saying:

‘They—meaning ‘Abd Allāh ibn Kullāb and his followers—say that Allah—exalted be His name—possesses knowledge, power, life, hearing, sight, greatness, majesty, grandeur, speech, and will: attributes by which Allah Most High has always been, and will always be, characterized.

They say: Allah Most High’s names and attributes are not to be called identical with Him, as some of the Mu‘tazilah have said, nor are they to be called other than Him, as the Jahmiyyah have said. They do not say that knowledge is power, nor do they say that it is other than power,