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Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī defended Jahm’s position on “faith,” although he also defended the well-known position of Ahl al-Sunnah that one should qualify one’s profession of faith by saying, “I am a believer, if Allah wills.” For he upheld the position of Ahl al-Sunnah that no one among the people of the qiblah is to be deemed an unbeliever, that they will not remain in Hell forever, that intercession on their behalf is accepted, and other such beliefs.

In matters disputed between the people of hadith and others, he consistently defends the position of the people of hadith. Yet he was not thoroughly acquainted with the grounds for their positions, so he defends their position on the basis of principles he himself considers sound, which he received from others. This leads him into contradictions that both sides reject. Such was his approach to the question of faith: he defended Jahm’s position while also defending the qualification “if Allah wills.” Consequently, many of his followers disagreed with him over this qualification—as we shall explain when discussing his grounds for it—while most followed him in defending Jahm’s position on faith.

Anyone acquainted only with works of speculative theology, without knowing what the early generations and the imams of the Sunnah said on this subject, supposes that the position presented in those works is that of Ahl al-Sunnah. Yet it is a position held by none of the imams of the Sunnah. Indeed, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Wakī‘, and others declared those who held Jahm’s position on faith—the position defended by Abū al-Hasan—to be unbelievers. In their view, it is worse than the position of the Murji’ah. For this reason, those among the Zaydiyyah, the Mu‘tazilah, and similar groups who hold al-Shāfi‘ī in high esteem have come to criticize many who claim affiliation with him