He also mentioned that each of the two factions of the Lafziyyah—those who affirm and those who deny—claims allegiance to Abū ‘Abd Allāh; that much of what is transmitted from Ahmad ibn Hanbal is falsely attributed to him; that they failed to understand some of his statements because of their subtlety and obscurity; and that what he himself and Imam Ahmad said is the position of the imams and scholars, supported by the Quran and Sunnah.

I saw the following in the handwriting of Judge Abū Ya‘lā—may Allah have mercy on him—on the back of his handwritten copy of The Book of al-‘Uddah:

I copied from the end of al-Bukhārī’s Book of the Epistle, concerning the distinction between reciting and what is recited. He said:

“Reports from Ahmad ibn Hanbal have reached me in twenty-two versions, all contradicting one another. What I consider authentic is that he said: ‘I have never heard a scholar say: My utterance of the Quran is uncreated.’”

He said: “Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s followers split into some fifty groups.”

Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Bukhārī said: “Ibn Hanbal said: ‘A Lafzī is someone who says: The Quran as uttered by us is created.’”

Toward the end of Abū ‘Abd Allāh’s lifetime, there had also emerged members of the Kullābiyyah and similar groups—the followers of Abū Muhammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘īd ibn Kullāb al-Basrī, who composed works refuting the Jahmiyyah, the Mu‘tazilah, and others. He was one of the speculative theologians who affirmed the divine attributes, and his approach inclined toward the position of the people of hadith and Sunnah. Nevertheless, it contained an element of innovation, because he affirmed that the attributes subsist in Allah’s essence but did not affirm that matters dependent on His will subsist in His essence. Yet, in refuting the Jahmiyyah—those who deny the divine attributes and Allah’s exaltedness—he presented such evidence, arguments, and extensive discussion as demonstrated his distinction