people who suspend judgment inwardly agree with those who negate, or acquiesce in their position, while opposing only those who affirm. Thus, it is clear that they have acquiesced in the position of the people of innovation and opposed the people of the Sunnah.

Second: Not knowing the meanings of the Quran and hadith is not something Allah and His Messenger love. This position is therefore false.

Third: Muslims agree that doubt and bewilderment are not praiseworthy in themselves. At most, someone who has no knowledge warranting either negation or affirmation should remain silent. But when someone knows the truth through evidence consistent with the explanation of His Messenger, may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace, the doubting, bewildered person who suspends judgment has no right to object to this knowledgeable person, who possesses certainty and insight, follows the Messenger, and understands both transmitted evidence and rational arguments.

Fourth: All the early generations denounced the negating Jahmiyyah, upheld affirmation, and stated it explicitly. Their statements affirming and denouncing those who negate are too numerous to record here. The statements of renowned imams—such as Mālik, al-Thawrī, al-Awzā‘ī, Abū Hanīfah, Hammād ibn Zayd, Hammād ibn Salamah, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāh, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū ‘Ubayd, and the leading scholars among the followers of Mālik, Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ahmad—are extant in such abundance that no one can enumerate them.

Mālik’s answer on this matter explicitly affirms it. The questioner said to him: “O Abū ‘Abd Allāh, ‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne’—how did He rise over it?”

Mālik replied: “Rising over