some of their innovations. Indeed, he prayed behind the Jahmiyyah who propagated their doctrine, subjected people to tests concerning it, and inflicted severe punishments on those who would not agree with them. Ahmad and others like him did not declare them unbelievers. Rather, he recognized their faith and leadership, prayed for them, and held the same position regarding praying behind them, performing Hajj and going to war with them, and the prohibition of rebelling against them as he did regarding comparable rulers.

At the same time, he condemned the false doctrine they had introduced, which constituted grave unbelief, even if they themselves did not know that it was unbelief. He opposed it and strove against them to secure its rejection as far as he could. Thus, he combined obedience to Allah and His Messenger in upholding the Sunnah and the religion and condemning the innovations of the heretical Jahmiyyah with respect for the rights of the believers, both rulers and the wider community—even if they were ignorant innovators or unjust evildoers.

Those well-known figures, such as Hammād ibn Abī Sulaymān, Abū Hanīfah, and other jurists of Kufa, regarded verbal profession and belief in the heart as components of faith. This was also the position of Abū Muhammad ibn Kullāb and others like him. Their position on this did not vary, nor is it reported that they said faith consists solely in the heart’s assent.

Rather, they attributed this view to “Jahm ibn Safwān,” reporting that he said: “Faith consists solely in the heart’s knowledge, even without verbal acknowledgment.” They condemned this so strongly that Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāh, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others pronounced a general judgment of unbelief upon those who held this view, for it is one of the doctrines of the Jahmiyyah.

They argued that Pharaoh, Iblīs, Abū Tālib, the Jews, and others like them knew in their hearts but denied with their tongues; on that view, they would therefore have been believers. They cited Allah’s words:

“And they denied