many non-Arabs among those in authority, and much of the administration passed out of Arab hands. Some foreign books—Persian, Indian, and Greek—were translated into Arabic, and what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had foretold came to pass: “Then lying will become widespread, until a man gives testimony without being asked and swears an oath without being asked”—three things emerged: “juristic opinion,” “speculative theology,” and “Sufism.” “Jahmism” also emerged, namely the denial of the divine attributes, and, at the opposite extreme, “likening Allah to His creation.”

Most proponents of juristic opinion were from Kufa, where it predominated, alongside the excessive Shi‘i partisanship and widespread lying in transmitted reports found among its people. Nevertheless, the best of its people possessed a tremendous measure of knowledge, truthfulness, adherence to the Sunnah, understanding of religious law, and devotion to worship. The point, however, is that Kufa was where widespread lying in transmitted reports, a proliferation of juristic opinions, and Shi‘i leanings in matters of doctrine developed.

Speculative theology and Sufism were chiefly found in Basra. Shortly after the deaths of al-Hasan and Ibn Sīrīn, ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd and Wāsil ibn ‘Atā’ emerged, together with their followers among the speculative theologians and Mu‘tazilah. Ahmad ibn ‘Atā’ (1) al-Hujaymī also emerged; he had been a companion of ‘Abd al-Wāhid ibn Zayd,