and asking about it is an innovation.” He disapproved of the newly introduced speculative theology.

It is reported from him and from Abū Yūsuf:
“Whoever seeks religion through speculative theology falls into heresy.”

Al-Shāfiʿī said:
“My judgment concerning the practitioners of speculative theology is that they should be beaten with palm branches and sandals, paraded through the marketplaces, and it should be proclaimed: ‘This is the recompense of those who abandon the Book and the Sunnah and turn to speculative theology.’”

He also said:
“I have discovered things among the practitioners of speculative theology that I had never imagined. For a servant to be afflicted with every sin except associating partners with Allah is better for him than to be afflicted with speculative theology.”

His statements and those of others have been explained at length in several places. It has been clarified that what they meant by speculative theology was the theology of the Jahmiyyah, through which they denied the divine attributes and claimed to establish that the universe began to exist—namely, the argument from accidents.

Ahmad also said:
“The scholars of speculative theology are heretics. No one who has clothed himself in speculative theology has ever prospered.”

The statements of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Salamah al-Mājishūn on this subject are extensive.

The followers of Abū Hanīfah related, through Abū Yūsuf, that Abū Hanīfah said:
“No one should say anything about Allah on the basis of his own opinion. Rather, he should describe Him as He has described Himself.”

Abū Hanīfah also said:
“Two guests came to us from Khurāsān, both astray: the Jahmiyyah and those who liken Allah to His creation.”