But the point here is that the positions of the imams rest on this distinction between the general category and the particular individual. Some people have therefore reported disagreement among them on this matter without grasping the full import of their statements. Some report two positions from Ahmad, without qualification, on declaring adherents of religious innovation unbelievers. They even extend this disagreement to declaring the Murji’ah and the Shia who accord precedence to Alī unbelievers, and sometimes favor declaring them unbelievers condemned to remain in Hell forever. This is not the position of Ahmad or any other imam of Islam.

Rather, Ahmad’s position is consistent: he did not declare unbelievers those Murji’ah who say, “Faith consists of speech without deeds,” nor those who give Alī precedence over Uthmān. Indeed, his explicit statements clearly refrain from declaring the Khawārij, the Qadariyyah, and others unbelievers. He did, however, declare the Jahmiyyah who deny Allah’s names and attributes unbelievers, because their statements plainly and clearly contradict what the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—brought, and because their doctrine amounts in reality to negating the Creator. He had suffered at their hands and thus came to understand the true nature of their doctrine and that it revolves around negation. That the early generations and the imams declared the Jahmiyyah unbelievers is well known.

Yet he did not declare their individual members unbelievers. One who propagates a doctrine is more culpable than one who merely holds it; one who punishes those who disagree with him is more culpable than one who merely propagates it; and one who declares his opponents unbelievers is more culpable than one who punishes them. Nevertheless, those in authority held the Jahmiyyah’s doctrines—that the Quran is created, that Allah will not be seen in the Hereafter, and other such beliefs—and called people to accept them