The teachings of the deniers are false both inwardly and outwardly, and the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his followers are free of such things. Rather, he died leaving us upon a clear, bright path, whose night is like its day; none deviates from it except one who is doomed to perish.

He informed us that:

“Every new matter introduced after him is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.”

Some practitioners of speculative theology may recite this verse by Majnūn of Banū ‘Āmir:

“Each claims a bond with Laylā,
Yet Laylā acknowledges none of their claims.”

If someone composes poetry containing wisdom, or quotes a verse to illustrate something he has recognized as true, he is close to the mark. But if he seeks to establish a claim merely through words arranged in verse or otherwise, he should be told: “You must demonstrate that the early generations do not acknowledge those with whom you claim affiliation.”

This is evident in what he and others have mentioned: they attribute to the early generations statements they never made, and which no one knowledgeable about them and upright in his reporting has transmitted from them. For a transmitter must possess both knowledge and integrity.

If we suppose that someone has reported the position of the early generations as he describes it, then either he has little knowledge of their transmitted accounts—like Abū al-Ma‘ālī, Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī, Ibn al-Khatīb, and others like them. Their knowledge of hadith was insufficient for them to be counted even among ordinary practitioners of that discipline, let alone its specialists. Each of these men knew al-Bukhārī, Muslim, and their hadiths only by hearsay, much as ordinary people speak of them. They do not distinguish between authentic, mass-transmitted hadith