Some of those who regard certain attributes of the servant as beginningless eventually went so far as to regard the spirit within him as beginningless. They also affirmed the beginninglessness of the light present in the sun and moon, and other such doctrines whose falsity and opposition to the early generations and the imams we have explained elsewhere. These people share the belief that some attributes of the Creator indwell created beings. As for the Jahmiyyah, who are worse than these people, their position ultimately leads them to hold that the Creator Himself indwells all created beings, or that He is identical with the very existence of created beings. The shaykh of these Jahmī proponents of indwelling had met with the shaykhs of those proponents of indwelling who affirm the divine attributes. Because of these innovations, others like them, and other violations of the Sharia, the calamities that befell the imams came to pass.

Imam Ahmad and other imams condemned the doctrine of indwelling and likened its proponents to the Christians. In his Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah, he said:

“Among the reports that reached us concerning Jahm, the enemy of Allah, was that he came from Khurāsān, from Tirmidh. He engaged in disputes and argument, and most of his discourse concerned Allah. He met some polytheists called the Sumaniyyah. They became acquainted with Jahm and said to him: ‘We shall debate with you. If our argument prevails over yours, you will enter our religion; and if your argument prevails over ours, we will enter your religion.’ Among the things they said to Jahm in their debate was: ‘Do you not claim that you have a god?’ Jahm said: