these matters by way of confusion, the “question of declaring adherents of innovation and wayward beliefs to be disbelievers” follows from this principle.

We shall begin with the position of the imams of the Sunnah on this question before drawing attention to the evidence. We say:

The well-known position of Imam Ahmad and the general body of the imams of the Sunnah is that the Jahmiyyah are disbelievers. They are those who negate the attributes of the Most Merciful. Their doctrine explicitly contradicts the Scripture brought by the messengers, and its true substance is a denial of the Creator. It thus entails denying the Lord and denying what He has revealed about Himself through His messengers.

For this reason, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak said:

“We can recount the statements of the Jews and Christians, but we cannot bring ourselves to recount the statements of the Jahmiyyah.”

More than one imam stated that they were more deeply steeped in disbelief than the Jews and Christians, meaning in this particular respect. For this reason, they declared to be disbelievers those who say that the Quran is created; that Allah will not be seen in the Hereafter; that Allah is not above the Throne; or that Allah has no knowledge, power, mercy, anger, or other such attributes.

As for the “Murjiʾah,” his recorded statements consistently indicate that he did not declare them to be disbelievers. Their innovation is of the same kind as the jurists’ disagreements over subsidiary matters, and the dispute over much of what they say comes down to a dispute over words and designations. Hence, discussion of their questions is called “the chapter on designations.” This is a disagreement of the kind found among jurists, but it concerns a fundamental principle of