His speech come into being in time.’”

He said:

“This is another travesty in religion, offending many an eye. Abū Bakr ibn Ishāq al-Lanjarūdī, Ibn Khuzaymah, became alert to it. Nishapur was then the home of transmitted reports: people craned their necks towards it, undertook journeys to it, and brought knowledge back from it. What, then, do you think of gatherings from which al-Thaqafī and al-Dubaʿī were excluded, despite their combined knowledge of hadith and jurisprudence, truthfulness, piety, eloquence, careful verification, stature, and public prominence? They took no pleasure in speculative theology or even a whiff of its adherents. Ibn Khuzaymah was in one house, Muhammad ibn Ishāq al-Sarrāj in another, and Abū Hāmid ibn al-Sharqī in another.”

Shaykh al-Islām said:

“That imam, Abū Bakr, sprang into action against this tribulation. He continued loudly exposing its ugliness and writing refutations of it, like someone warning of an approaching army, until the following was recorded in books, firmly established in hearts, taught in elementary schools, and engraved in prayer niches: Allah speaks; if He wills, He speaks, and if He wills, He remains silent. May Allah richly reward that imam and those illustrious men for defending His religion and honouring His Prophet.”

I say:

In the hadith narrated by Salmān from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“What is lawful is what Allah has made lawful in His Book, and what is unlawful is what Allah has made unlawful in His Book. Whatever He has remained silent about is among the things He has pardoned.”

Narrated by Abū Dāwūd.

And in the hadith narrated by Abū Thaʿlabah from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah has prescribed obligations, so do not neglect them; He has set limits, so do not overstep them; and He has forbidden things, so do not violate those prohibitions. He has remained silent about certain things out of mercy for you, not forgetfulness, so do not ask about them.”