possessing the attributes of perfection is more deficient than one who is capable of them and can possess them. For it originated from Him—not, as the Sabians and those Jahmiyyah who agree with them claim, from the Prophet’s own soul, the “Active Intellect,” or the “air.” Rather, it is a revelation from One who is All-Wise, Praiseworthy. And to Him it will return when it is taken away by night from the written copies and people’s hearts.

Imam Ahmad became a guiding authority for those of Ahl al-Sunnah who came after him, across all their groups. They all agree with his main teachings and the fundamental principles of his doctrine, because he preserved for the Muslim community its inherited faith and prophetic foundations against those who sought to distort and alter them. He did not institute a religion that Allah had not authorized. What he taught is what the other eminent imams taught; indeed, his very statements are explicitly reported from their leading figures. However, he brought together their scattered teachings, strove against those who opposed them, and demonstrated how the Quran and Sunnah supported them. His statements concerning the Jahmiyyah, and those of the imams before and after him, are numerous and well known.

The Jahmiyyah are those who deny Allah’s attributes and follow the misguided Sabians. Offshoots of Jahmism began to circulate in many people’s minds. Some who were known for adhering to the Sunnah and hadith said: “We say neither that it is created nor that it is uncreated; rather, we withhold judgment.” Inwardly, most of them held it to be created, but in their hearts they feared the believers more than they feared Allah.