For this reason, ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, Yūsuf ibn Asbāt, and others said: “The fundamental sects of innovation are four: the Shī‘ah, the Khawārij, the Qadariyyah, and the Murji’ah.”

They said: “The Jahmiyyah are not among the seventy-two sects.” Likewise, Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Hāmid reported two views on this matter from the scholars of Ahmad’s school, this being one of them.

By this they meant the unqualified Jahmī doctrine held by Jahm himself and those who followed him in it: denying the names as well as the attributes, such that Allah is not called by any of His most beautiful names, nor designated a thing, an existent, or anything else. The only name Jahm is reported to have used for Him is “Powerful.” Since all the names are applied to created beings, he claimed that they entailed likening Allah to creation, unlike “Powerful.” For he was the leading figure of the Jabriyyah, and in his view, a servant possesses neither power nor action, and none but Allah is called powerful. This is why he is reported to have called Allah “Powerful.”

Worse than him are those who deny the names and attributes—the heretics among the philosophers and the Qarmatians. Thus, all the imams regarded these people as heretics and hypocrites. Indeed, their inward unbelief is greater than the unbelief of the Jews and Christians. There is no doubt that they are not among the seventy-two sects. If they outwardly profess Islam, the most that can be said of them is that they are hypocrites, like the hypocrites who lived in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Those hypocrites were closer to Islam than these people, for they observed the outward ordinances of Islam, whereas these people have