as Allah mentions in the Quran the flogging of those who slander others’ chastity and those who commit fornication, and the cutting off of a thief’s hand. This is also established through mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Had they been apostates, he would have put them to death. Thus, the falsity of both positions is known with undeniable certainty from the religion of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

The innovators fell into error only because they turned away from this approach and began to base the religion of Islam on premises they assumed to be sound, whether concerning what words signify or concerning rational concepts. They do not reflect on the explanations given by Allah and His Messenger. Any premises that contradict those explanations are necessarily misguidance. For this reason, Ahmad, in his well-known epistle, refuted those who cling to what they perceive as the apparent meaning of the Quran without drawing on the explanations of the Messenger, the Companions, and the Successors. He likewise discussed this in his letter to Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Jurjānī refuting the Murjiʾah. This is the approach of the other imams of the Muslims: they do not depart from the Messenger’s explanation whenever they have access to it. Whoever departs from their path falls into innovations that entail saying about Allah and His Messenger what he does not know, or what is untrue. This is something Allah and His Messenger have forbidden.

Allah Most High says concerning Satan:

“He only commands you to evil and immorality and to say about Allah what you do not know.”

And Allah Most High says:

“Was not the covenant of the Scripture taken from them that they would not say about Allah except the truth?”

This is a form of interpreting the Quran according to one’s own opinion, concerning which the hadith states:

“Whoever speaks about the Quran according to his own opinion, let him take his seat in the Fire.”

An example of this is that, when the Murjiʾah turned away from understanding the words of Allah and His Messenger, they began discussing what “faith,” “Islam,” and other terms denote through methods they had invented, such as