by “temporally originated occurrences” created things, or events that alter the subject in which they occur, or similar things that people mean by this expression. Rather, they mean to deny any acts or other matters connected to His will and power. They therefore deny that there can subsist in Him any act of creating, rising over the Throne, coming, arriving, speaking, calling out, speaking privately, or anything else that He is described as willing and having power to do.

Ibn Kullāb disagreed with their statement, “No accidents subsist in Him.” He said, “Attributes subsist in Him, but they are not called accidents.” Yet he agreed with what they intended by saying, “No temporally originated occurrences subsist in Him”: namely, that nothing connected to His will subsists in Him.

From the time he drew this distinction, those who affiliated themselves with the Sunnah and the community—who held that the Quran is uncreated, that Allah will be seen in the Hereafter, and that Allah is above His heavens, over His Throne, distinct from His creation—came to hold two positions, mentioned by al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī and others.

One group agreed with Ibn Kullāb, including al-Qalānisī, al-Ashʿarī, Abū al-Hasan ibn Mahdī al-Tabarī, and their followers. Many followers of the four imams and others agreed with these men, including adherents of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abū Hanīfah, and others.

Al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī used to agree with him, but it was later said that he withdrew his agreement. Ahmad ibn Hanbal had instructed people to shun al-Hārith al-Muhāsibī and other followers of Ibn Kullāb when they openly expressed this position, just as al-Sarī al-Saqatī instructed al-Junayd to beware of some of al-Hārith’s statements. They reported that al-Hārith—may Allah have mercy on him—repented of this. He possessed knowledge and virtue