Whatever the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported to have named among his Lord’s attributes has the same standing as what the Lord Most High has named and described of Himself. Those firmly grounded in knowledge—who stop where their knowledge ends, describe their Lord as He has described Himself, and refrain from mentioning what He has left unmentioned—neither deny the attributes He has named nor presume, through excessive speculation, to describe Him with what He has not named. For the truth lies in leaving unmentioned what He has left unmentioned and naming what He has named.

‘Whoever follows a path other than that of the believers, We will leave him to what he has chosen and burn him in Hell—what an evil destination!’

May Allah grant us and you wisdom and join us with the righteous.”

All of this is the statement of Imam Ibn al-Mājishūn. Reflect upon it, and consider how he affirmed the attributes while denying knowledge of their manner—in agreement with the other imams—and how he rebuked those who deny the attributes on the grounds that affirming them would entail such-and-such consequences. This is what the Jahmiyyah say: that He would necessarily be a body or an accident, and would therefore be originated.

In Al-Fiqh al-Akbar (The Greater Understanding), a book well known among the followers of Abū Hanīfah, which they transmitted with a chain of narration from Abū Mutīʿ, al-Hakam ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Balkhī, he said: “I asked Abū Hanīfah about the greater understanding, and he replied: ‘Do not declare anyone an unbeliever because of a sin, nor exclude anyone from faith on its account. Enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. Know that whatever has befallen you could never have missed you, and whatever has missed you could never have befallen you. Do not disavow any of the Companions of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor give your allegiance to some to the exclusion of others. Entrust the affair of ʿUthmān and ʿAlī to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.’”