from Ahmad. It is also reported from the imams of the Sunnah and hadith generally that they used to say: “Whoever says that the Quran is created is a disbeliever,” and “Whoever says that Allah will not be seen in the Hereafter is a disbeliever,” and similar statements.

Abū Nasr al-Sijzī then related two positions from them on this matter. The first is that this constitutes disbelief that takes a person outside Islam. He said: “This is the position of the majority.” The second is that it constitutes disbelief that does not take a person outside Islam. Accordingly, al-Khattābī said that they made these statements as a stern warning.

Likewise, the later scholars of our school disagreed over whether those among these groups who are declared disbelievers will remain eternally in Hell. Most affirmed their eternal punishment without qualification, as is also reported from a number of the earlier hadith scholars, such as Abū Hātim (?), Abū Zurʿah, and others. Some, however, refrained from affirming eternal punishment.

The reason for this disagreement is the apparent conflict between the evidence. They see evidence requiring that the rulings pertaining to disbelief be applied to these people. Yet they also see particular individuals who have voiced these views possessing such faith as precludes their being disbelievers. Thus, the two bodies of evidence appear to them to conflict.

In reality, they have encountered the same difficulty with the general wording of the imams’ statements that earlier people encountered with the general wording of the revealed texts. Whenever they saw the imams saying, “Whoever says such-and-such is a disbeliever,” the listener assumed that this wording encompassed everyone who said it. They did not consider that declaring someone a disbeliever involves conditions and impediments that may not apply in a particular individual’s case, and that a general declaration of disbelief does not entail declaring a particular individual a disbeliever