And our Lord is one, our Book is one, and our Prophet is one. The fundamentals of religion admit neither division nor disagreement. What I say brings Muslims together and is agreed upon by the early generations. If it accords with the community, then praise be to Allah. Otherwise, whoever opposes me after that—I shall reveal the secrets to him, tear away the veils, and expose the corrupt doctrines that have ruined religious communities and states. I shall travel by postal relay to the reigning sultan and inform him of matters that I will not mention in this assembly, for peace calls for one kind of speech and war another.

I also said:

There is no doubt that people dispute with one another. One says, “I am a Hanbalī,” and another says, “I am an Ash‘arī.” Division, strife, and disagreement arise between them over matters whose true nature they do not understand. I have brought material demonstrating that the schools agree on what I have stated. I have also brought (the book Exposing the Slanderer’s Lies Concerning What Is Attributed to Shaykh Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī—may Allah have mercy on him—by the hadith scholar Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ‘Asākir—may Allah have mercy on him.

I said:

No book like this has been written concerning the praiseworthy accounts of al-Ash‘arī. It includes his own words from his book al-Ibāna (The Elucidation).

When I reached the mention of the Mu‘tazila, the emir asked what “Mu‘tazila” meant. I replied: In earlier times, people disagreed concerning a sinful member of the Muslim community: was he an unbeliever or a believer? This was the first disagreement to arise within the religion.

The Khawārij said:

“He is an unbeliever.”

And the community said: