in reality; rather, what I have found is that many of their statements indicate—either explicitly or by their apparent meaning—that they affirmed this category of attributes. I do not report that every one of them affirmed every attribute; rather, what I have found is that they affirmed this category in general, and I have not seen any of them negate it. They only rejected likening Allah to His creation and condemned those who did so, while also condemning those who negated His attributes.
For example, Nuʿaym ibn Hammād al-Khuzāʿī, al-Bukhārī’s teacher, said:
“Whoever likens Allah to His creation has disbelieved, and whoever denies what Allah has described Himself with has disbelieved. Neither Allah’s descriptions of Himself nor His Messenger’s descriptions of Him amount to likening Him to creation.”
Whenever they saw a man go to extremes in rejecting any likeness between Allah and His creation without affirming His attributes, they would say:
“This is a Jahmī who negates the divine attributes.”
Such statements are exceedingly common in their words. Indeed, to this day, the Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah accuse anyone who affirms any of the attributes of likening Allah to His creation—falsely and slanderously. Some of them have even gone to such extremes as to level this accusation against the prophets, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them. Thus, Thumāmah ibn al-Ashras, one of the leaders of the Jahmiyyah, said:
“Three of the prophets liken Allah to His creation: Moses, when he said:
‘This is nothing but Your trial’;
Jesus, when he said:
‘You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself’;
and Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he said:
‘Our Lord descends.’”
Indeed, most of the Muʿtazilah classify the great majority of the imams—such as Mālik and his followers, al-Thawrī and his followers, al-Awzāʿī and his followers, al-Shāfiʿī and his followers, Ahmad and his followers, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū ʿUbayd, and others—as people who liken Allah to His creation.