is an account of the views of the people of hadith and Ahl al-Sunnah.’”

Ibn Fūrak’s account thus implies that Abū al-Hasan discussed no opponents of theirs other than these four groups. Yet this is not the case: Abū al-Hasan mentioned ten groups. At the beginning of his book, he said:

“This is an account of the differences of opinion. The Muslims divided into ten groups: the Shī‘ah, the Khawārij, the Murji’ah, the Mu‘tazilah, the Jahmiyyah, the Dirāriyyah, the Husayniyyah,