Bistām say: “I asked Abū Bakr ibn Sayyār about engaging in speculative theology. He forbade me in the strongest terms and said: ‘Adhere to the Quran and Sunnah and to the way of the earliest generations—the Companions, the Successors, and their successors. For I have seen Muslims throughout the lands forbid and denounce such discussion and urge adherence to the Quran and Sunnah.’”’”

Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismā‘īl al-Ansārī said: “Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-‘Abbās ibn Ismā‘īl al-Muqri’ informed us: Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Bayyi‘—that is, the hadith master al-Hākim—informed us: I heard Abū Sa‘īd ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muhammad al-Muqri’ say: I heard Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah say: ‘Whoever examines the works I have written on religious knowledge will see clearly that the Kullābiyyah—may Allah curse them—are liars in what they attribute to me that contradicts my fundamental position and religious beliefs. It is known to the people of the East