there being, in their view, any speech of Allah outside their souls. Likewise, al-Jahm initially used to say that Allah has no speech. Then, for the sake of the Muslims, he found it necessary to say that Allah does have speech, but would say, “It is figurative.”

For this reason, Imam Ahmad and the other imams understood their intent: their aim was to deny the divine attributes, and they were zindīqs (heretics)—a zindīq being a hypocrite. Thus, you find the imams describing them as heretics in their writings. Imam Ahmad, for example, wrote Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah, and al-Bukhārī entitled the final book of his Sahīh “The Book of Divine Oneness and the Refutation of the Heretics and the Jahmiyyah.” ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak used to say, “We can indeed recount the statements of the Jews and Christians, but we cannot bring ourselves to recount the statements of the Jahmiyyah.”

The pure Sabians—who professed faith outwardly and inwardly believed in only part of the Scripture—say that “Allah’s speech” is a name for what emanates into the prophet’s heart from the “Active Intellect” or something else, and that “Allah’s angels” is a name for the luminous forms that take shape within his soul. They may say that Gabriel is the “Active Intellect,” or that he is one of the imaginary forms appearing within the prophet’s soul, like those a sleeper sees.

Hence, these people say that what distinguishes a prophet is his ability to evoke images in the imagination, and that the prophets outwardly expressed the contrary of what they inwardly held for the benefit of the common people. Through their words, they imparted not knowledge but imaginative representations that benefited the common people. They regard this as one of the finest things, praising and venerating the prophets for it.