so much so that you will find all their opponents acknowledging this when the moment of truth comes, as Imām Ahmad said:

“The sign distinguishing us from them will be the day of funerals.”

During life, because people share worldly interests, a man extols his own group. At death, however, people at large cannot but acknowledge the truth. Thus, no funeral like his has been known in Islam. Al-Mutawakkil measured the area where the funeral prayer was offered for him and found that there were 1,600,000 worshippers, apart from those who prayed in inns and houses. On that day, 20,000 Jews and Christians embraced Islam.

He attained distinction in the Muslim community only through following hadith and the Sunnah. Likewise, al-Shāfi'ī, Ishāq, and others attained distinction in Islam only through following the people of hadith and Sunnah. Al-Bukhārī and others like him attained distinction for the same reason. Mālik, al-Awzā'ī, al-Thawrī, Abū Hanīfah, and others likewise gained distinction throughout the Muslim community, and their views were accepted, because of their agreement with hadith and the Sunnah. Those among them who were criticized were criticized only concerning matters in which they had not succeeded in following hadith and the Sunnah—either because the relevant reports had not reached them, because they considered their indication weak, or because they considered other evidence stronger.

The same applies to doctrinal matters known through transmitted reports. No member or leader of any group has gained esteem in the Muslim community except through the affirmation and adherence to the Sunnah found in him. Take first the Mu'tazilah—the champions of speculative theology. They are praised and esteemed by their followers, and by those who overlook their faults on account of their merits in the eyes of Muslims, only because of their agreement with the doctrine of the adherents of affirmation, Sunnah, and hadith, and because of their refutation of some of the Rāfidah’s departures from the Sunnah and hadith concerning the legitimate leadership of the caliphs,