so if error were to enter it and go unexposed, Allah’s proof in that regard would be nullified, His guidance lost, and His path obscured; for no prophet is awaited after this Prophet to clarify for people the matters over which they have differed. Rather, this Messenger is the last of the messengers, and his community is the best of communities. Hence, by Allah’s permission, a group within it will always stand firm upon the truth, unharmed by those who oppose or abandon it, until the Hour comes.
The second point:
Abū al-Faraj himself is inconsistent on this subject: he has maintained neither a consistent position of denial nor one of affirmation. Indeed, in both verse and prose, he has affirmed many of the attributes he denies in this work. In this respect, he resembles many people of various backgrounds who engage in this subject, sometimes affirming and sometimes denying in numerous matters concerning the attributes. Such is also the case with Abū al-Wafā’ ibn ‘Aqīl and Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī.
The third point:
Affirmation is not exclusive to the Hanbalīs, nor do they exhibit forms of excess absent from other groups. Rather, anyone who surveys people’s doctrines will find in every group extremists in denial and affirmation whose like are not found among the Hanbalīs, and will find that any of them who inclines toward an erroneous denial or an erroneous affirmation