Then Jahm emerged in the East, in Tirmidh, and it was from there that his doctrine spread. For this reason, the scholars of the Sunnah in the East spoke more extensively in refutation of their doctrine than those of the Hijaz, Syria, and Iraq. These included Ibrāhīm ibn Tahmān, Khārijah ibn Mus‘ab, ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, and others like them. Mālik, Ibn al-Mājishūn, and others also condemned them, as did al-Awzā‘ī, Hammād ibn Zayd, and others.
Their doctrine became widely known only at the time of the ordeal of Imam Ahmad and other scholars of the Sunnah. They grew stronger and more numerous during al-Ma’mūn’s rule, for he had spent some time in Khorasan and met with them. He then issued written orders for the inquisition from Tarsus in 218 AH, the year in which he died. Ahmad was returned to prison in Baghdad, where he remained until 220 AH. In that year, he underwent his ordeal under al-Mu‘tasim and debated them. When he refuted their arguments and explained that their demand that people agree with them, and their testing of them, constituted ignorance and injustice, al-Mu‘tasim wanted to release him. Some, however, advised him that the prudent course was to flog Ahmad, lest the dignity of the caliphate be undermined. When they flogged him, a public outcry arose; they became afraid and released him. Ibn Abī Du’ād had assembled for him deniers of the divine attributes from all the sects.
Scholars of the Sunnah, such as Ibn al-Mubārak, Ahmad, Ishāq, and al-Bukhārī, call all these people Jahmiyyah. Many later followers of Ahmad and others came to suppose that his opponents were the Mu‘tazilah. This was not so; rather, the Mu‘tazilah were one group among them.
The point here is that Jahm became known for two innovations: the first was denial of the divine attributes; the second was extremism concerning divine decree and irjā’. Thus he made