It has also been said that the first person known to have openly advocated in Islam the denial of Allah’s attributes implicit in Pharaoh’s statement was al-Ja'd ibn Dirham. Khālid ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Qasrī offered him as a sacrifice, saying:

“O people, offer your sacrifices; may Allah accept them. I am sacrificing al-Ja'd ibn Dirham, for he claimed that Allah did not take Abraham as a close friend and did not actually speak to Moses. Exalted is Allah far above what al-Ja'd says!”

Then he stepped down and slaughtered him. Muslim scholars, including al-Hasan al-Basrī and others, commended him for what he had done. It was through his association with this al-Ja'd that Marwān ibn Muhammad, the last Umayyad caliph, was called al-Ja'dī. That association brought him misfortune, culminating in the dynasty’s fall. For when innovations contrary to the religion of the messengers become manifest, Allah exacts retribution from those who oppose the messengers and vindicates His messengers.

Thus, when the esotericist heretics emerged and took control of Syria and other lands, hypocrisy and heresy spread there. These were the concealed reality of their movement, and they constituted the true substance of Pharaoh’s position: “denial of the Creator and denial of His worship.” The best of what they outwardly professed was Rāfidism, so the best among them and the closest to Islam were the Rāfidīs. Through them, Rāfidism and heresy spread, so that those residing in Syria, such as the extremist Banū Hamdān and others like them, were Shiites, as were the Banū Buwayh in the East.

Ibn Sīnā and his household were adherents of their movement. He said: “It was because of this that I took up philosophy.” Their rise began when al-Muqtadir assumed power before he had come of age. This marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Abbasid state. For this reason, the Umayyad ruler in al-Andalus was then given the title Commander of the Faithful, whereas previously he had not been called