professing it. Rewarding those who profess it and punishing those who reject it are more serious than merely calling people to it; and punishing someone who professes it by execution is more serious than punishing him by beating.

Yet Imam Ahmad prayed for the caliph and others who had beaten and imprisoned him. He sought forgiveness for them and pardoned them for their mistreatment of him and their advocacy of a doctrine that constitutes disbelief. Had they been apostates from Islam, seeking forgiveness for them would not have been permissible, for seeking forgiveness for disbelievers is forbidden by the Quran, the Sunnah and scholarly consensus.

These statements and actions of his, and those of other imams, clearly show that they did not declare the individual Jahmīs who said that the Quran was created and that Allah would not be seen in the Hereafter to be disbelievers. Reports from Ahmad also indicate that he declared certain specific people disbelievers on this account. To attribute two different positions to him on this issue, however, is open to question. Alternatively, the matter should be understood by drawing the necessary distinctions:

Those whom he declared disbelievers individually were those for whom evidence established that the conditions for declaring disbelief were met and the impediments were absent. Those whom he did not declare disbelievers individually were those for whom this was not established. All this was despite his pronouncing disbelief in general, unrestricted terms.

The evidence for this principle is the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus and reasoned consideration.

As for the Quran, Allah, glorified and exalted, says:

“There is no blame upon you for what you do by mistake.”

And He, exalted is He, says:

“Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake.”