from the Quran and Sunnah to the words of someone whose agreement or disagreement with them he cannot ascertain. As for someone who opposes the Quran and Sunnah with statements that contradict them, he is like a traveller who leaves the known road to Mecca and takes the road to Cyprus, hoping to reach Mecca by it. Such is the condition of someone who abandons what is known from the Quran and Sunnah for contradictory statements made by Zayd or ‘Amr, whoever they may be. Everyone’s statements may be accepted or rejected, except those of the Messenger of Allah—Allah bless him and grant him peace. In this regard, I have witnessed astonishing things whose number is known only to the One who knows what hearts conceal.

As for the reported hadith:

“Some knowledge is like a hidden treasure: none knows it except those who have knowledge of Allah, and when they mention it, none rejects it except those who are heedless concerning Allah.”

Shaykh al-Islam Abū Ismā‘īl al-Ansārī narrated it in his book entitled The Distinction between Those Who Affirm the Divine Attributes and Those Who Negate Them. In it, he included reports concerning the divine attributes: authentic and singular reports, reports with connected and disconnected chains, and reports stopping at the Companions. Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī also mentioned it in his books. The latter interprets it in a manner consistent with his own statements, in which he inclines towards views resembling those of the philosophers and others who deny the divine attributes.

Shaykh al-Islam related that his teacher, Yahyā ibn ‘Ammār, used to say: