The interpretations circulating among people today—such as most of those mentioned by Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak in his Book of Interpretations and by Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muhammad ibn ʿUmar al-Rāzī in the book he entitled Ta’sīs al-Taqdīs (The Foundation of Sanctification), many of which also appear in the writings of numerous others, including Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbā’ī, ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn Ahmad al-Hamdānī, Abū al-Husayn al-Basrī, Abū al-Wafā’ ibn ʿAqīl, Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī, and others—are the very same interpretations that Bishr al-Marīsī set out in his book. Nevertheless, the writings of some of these scholars may also contain rejection and refutation of such interpretation, and they have made sound statements on certain matters.

All I have shown is that their interpretations are identical to those of Bishr al-Marīsī. This is demonstrated by the refutation written by ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī, one of the renowned imams of al-Bukhārī’s time. He composed a book entitled “ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd’s Refutation of the Obstinate Liar concerning His Fabrications about Allah in Matters of Monotheism.” In it, he cited these very interpretations from Bishr al-Marīsī in terms indicating that al-Marīsī was more firmly grounded in them, and more knowledgeable about transmitted teachings and rational arguments, than these later scholars, to whom they had been passed down through him and others.

ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd then refuted them with arguments which, when studied by an intelligent, discerning reader, reveal the true position of the early generations, the evident strength of the case for their approach, and the weakness of their opponents’ case. Then, when he sees that the imams—the imams of guidance—unanimously condemned the Marīsiyya, and that most of them