If it is objected, “But it has been reported that He commands a herald to call out,” the reply is: This is not found in the Sahīh. If it is authentic, the two reports can be reconciled: He Himself calls out and also commands a herald to call out. However, this report cannot be used to contradict the authentic, widely transmitted report whose authenticity hadith scholars have unanimously affirmed and which they have accepted, especially since it explicitly states that Allah Most High Himself says:

“Who is calling upon Me, that I may answer him? Who is asking Me, that I may give him? Who is seeking My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?”

Likewise, Jahm denied the names of Allah Most High. He would not call Him a thing, living, or anything else except metaphorically. He said, “Calling Him by a name also applied to a created being would amount to likening Him to creation.” Jahm was also a determinist, saying that the servant does nothing. Thus, it is reported that he called Allah Powerful, since, in his view, the servant has no power.

Then the Mu‘tazilah, who followed ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd’s position on divine decree and the threat of punishment, adopted Jahm’s doctrine. They affirmed the names of Allah Most High but did not affirm His attributes. They said, “We say that Allah truly speaks.” They sometimes even cite the Muslims’ consensus that Allah truly speaks, lest the view that He does not speak be attributed to them. Yet, in their view, His being a speaker—glory be to Him—means that He created speech in something other than Himself. Thus, their doctrine and that of the Jahmiyyah are identical in substance. The former, however, say that He truly speaks, whereas the latter deny that He truly speaks. The true import of both groups’ position is that He is not