For a Muslim of sound faith goes against a scriptural text only because he is unaware of it or believes that what conflicts with it is sound. Yet when the Sunnah is clear and the matter weighty, such opposition arises from negligence and transgression on his part. He therefore deserves a degree of censure that he would not deserve in the case of an obscure text. Likewise, contravening the Sunnah is more serious in matters that cause division and disagreement.

For this reason, many rulers and scholars concerned themselves with the cause of Islam and with fighting its enemies, to the point that they began cursing the Rāfida, the Jahmiyya, and others from the pulpits. Indeed, they cursed every group in which they perceived a religious innovation.

Thus they cursed the Kullābiyya and the Ash‘ariyya, as happened in the dominion of the emir “Mahmūd ibn Sabuktakīn” and during the early period of Seljuq rule. The caliph al-Qādir likewise concerned himself with this at times and consulted the Mu‘tazilite jurists. They brought before him the case of the judge “Abū Bakr” and others like him, and intended to act against him, so that he had to go into hiding. He concealed himself only behind the school of Imam Ahmad and his agreement with it. Then al-Nizām took office, and they sought to have the curse lifted. They requested legal opinions from various Iraqi jurists, including al-Dāmghānī, the Hanafi, and Abū Ishāq al-Shīrāzī. The opinions of these two constitute an argument against the Hanafis and Shāfi‘īs in Khurasan.

It has been said that Abū Ishāq asked to be excused from this, but they compelled him. They ruled that cursing them was impermissible and that anyone who cursed them should receive discretionary punishment. Al-Dāmghānī gave as his reason that they were a group of Muslims. Abū Ishāq added that they had defended the Sunnah and refuted the proponents of religious innovation who opposed it. Thus the mufti could justify lifting censure only on the basis of conformity to the Sunnah and hadith.

[Likewise, among the legal opinions of the jurist Abū Muhammad, I saw a lengthy opinion containing some good points. He had been asked about several issues, and in it he said] (*):