Chapter: An Overview of the Doctrines of the Various Groups and Their Sources

Regarding the divine attributes and Allah’s oneness, denial of the attributes is, broadly speaking, the position of “the philosophers, the Muʿtazila, and other Jahmīs,” although there are certain differences between the philosophers and the Muʿtazila. Likewise, the Baghdad and Basra schools differ concerning hearing and sight—whether they constitute knowledge or a perception distinct from knowledge—and concerning will.

This is the doctrine that the early generations call “the position of Jahm,” because he was the first to propagate it within Islam. Elsewhere, I have explained the chain through which he received it: it derives from the Sabian philosophers, the polytheist Brahmins, and the Jewish sorcerers.

Affirmation of the attributes, broadly speaking, is the doctrine of “those who affirm the attributes”: the Kullābīs, Ashʿarīs, Karrāmīs, scholars of hadith, the majority of Sufis and Hanbalis, most Mālikīs and Shāfiʿīs apart from rare exceptions among them, and many—or most—Hanafīs. It is also the position of [the Salafiyya] (*). However, taking affirmation to the point of likening Allah to His creation is the position of extremists among the Rāfida, ignorant adherents of hadith, and certain others who have deviated. Between the denial of the Jahmīs and the affirmation of those who liken Allah to His creation, there are varying degrees.