Similarly, the Jahmiyyah advanced rational arguments that confused most people and gained acceptance among them, except for a few with expertise in these matters. Discussion of the Rāfidah’s hadiths and an explanation of how to distinguish truthful reports from fabricated ones can be found elsewhere, such as in the refutation of the Rāfidah.

Our concern here is to discuss the “rational proofs” invoked by proponents of falsehood among the Jahmiyyah, who deny Allah’s attributes, and among those who liken Him to His creation, as well as the proofs invoked by the Qadariyyah who deny divine decree and the Jahmī Qadariyyah who affirm compulsion. These two fundamental matters—“the attributes” and “divine decree,” also called divine oneness and justice—are the greatest and most momentous subjects discussed in the foundations of religion. The need to understand them is more universal, and knowing the truth concerning them is more beneficial than knowing it concerning other matters. Indeed, the same applies to all other rational and scriptural arguments advanced concerning the foundations of religion. At the foundation of all this is discussion of the Lord’s actions and words in relation to “the question of the world’s coming into existence” and “the question of the Quran and Allah’s speech.”

We therefore say: when someone with expertise carefully considers the arguments advanced by those who say that the Quran is eternal—such as al-Ash‘arī and his followers, and those who agreed with them, including al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā and his followers, Abū al-Ma‘ālī, Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī, Abū Mansūr al-Māturīdī, and others among the Hanbalīs, Shāfi‘īs, Mālikīs, and Hanafīs—these arguments, upon close examination, are found to support only the position of the early generations and the leading scholars, which is indicated by the Quran and Sunnah.