ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī said:

“There are two groups, so beware of them: the Jahmiyyah and the Rāfidah.”

These two groups are the worst of the adherents of religious innovation. Through them came the esoteric Qarmatians, such as the Nusayriyyah and the Ismāʿīliyyah, and with them the adherents of divine union became connected, for they are of the same kind as the Pharaonic sect. In these times, the “Rāfidah” combine their Rāfidī beliefs with the doctrines of the Jahmiyyah and the Qadariyyah, having added the doctrine of the Muʿtazilah to their own. They may then go further, adopting the doctrine of the Ismāʿīliyyah and similar adherents of heresy and divine union. Allah and His Messenger know best.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

“Concerning witnesses who gave testimony warranting a prescribed punishment, but when he appeared, they said, ‘We were mistaken,’ and retracted their testimony: is their retraction accepted?”

He replied:

“Yes. If a witness retracts his testimony before judgment is passed on its basis, no judgment is to be based upon it. If he knows that he was mistaken, he must retract it, and this does not impugn his religious commitment or uprightness. Allah knows best.”