and approves of it as reprehensible disbelief for which He exacts punishment.’”

The matter is as Abū al-Ma‘ālī stated: the earlier scholars of all Ahl al-Sunnah upheld what the Quran and Sunnah indicate—that He, glorified be He, neither approves of nor loves what He has forbidden. This was also the position of the early followers of the four imams—Abū Hanīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad—including Abū Bakr ‘Abd al-‘Azīz and others among their early followers. Some later scholars, however, equated all these meanings, as Abū al-Hasan did. This was originally Jahm’s position: he advocated compulsion in matters of divine decree and held views contrary to Ahl al-Sunnah. He denied Allah Most High’s mercy and would go out to people afflicted with leprosy and say:

“Would the Most Merciful of the merciful do this?”

Thus he denied that Allah is the Most Merciful of the merciful, whereas the truthful and trusted Messenger said:

“Allah is surely more merciful to His servants than a mother is to her child.”

These are weighty matters, and this is not the place to discuss them at length.

The purpose here is simply to draw attention to the broad principles. Many people read works on the foundations of religion and the principles of jurisprudence—even commentaries on the Quran and hadith—without finding in them the position that accords with the Quran and Sunnah and was upheld by the early generations of this community and its leading scholars: the position consistent with authentic transmitted evidence and clear reason. Instead, they find views each containing some error and contradiction. They are consequently bewildered about what to believe concerning these matters, what the Messenger brought, and what is true and sound, since none of those views provides them with the answer. Guidance lies only in what the Messenger brought—the Messenger concerning whom Allah said:

“And indeed, you guide to a straight path—the path of Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Unquestionably, to Allah do all matters return.”