I replied:

“That is true, but it is not peculiar to Ahmad. Every imam has had people claim allegiance to him whom he himself disavows. Some have claimed allegiance to Mālik whom Mālik disavows; others have claimed allegiance to al-Shāfi‘ī whom he disavows; and others have claimed allegiance to Abū Hanīfa whom he disavows. Some have claimed allegiance to Moses, peace be upon him, whom he disavows, and others to Jesus, peace be upon him, whom he disavows. Some have claimed allegiance to ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib whom he disavows. Our Prophet, too, has had people claim allegiance to him—Qarmatians, esotericists, and other kinds of heretics and hypocrites—whom he disavows.”

In his remarks, he mentioned that some of the Hashwiyya and those who liken Allah to His creation had claimed allegiance to Ahmad, and made similar statements.

I replied:

“Those who liken Allah to His creation and those who attribute a body to Him are more numerous outside Imam Ahmad’s following than within it. These various Kurdish groups are all Shāfi‘īs, and among them there is a degree of likening Allah to His creation and attributing a body to Him that is found in no other group. The people of Jīlān include both Shāfi‘īs and Hanbalis.”

I said:

“As for the Hanbalis proper, such views are not found among them to the extent that they are found among others.”

The full response also included the point that the Karrāmiyya, who attribute a body to Allah, are all Hanafis. I also discussed the term Hashwiyya—I do not recall whether this was in response to a question from the emir or someone else, or whether it was not in response to a question at all.

I said:

“The first to coin this term were the Mu‘tazila, for they call the community