Ibn Fūrak then reproduced the entire statement exactly as it stood and concluded:

“This is conclusive proof, taken from his own wording, that he held to these fundamentals which are the principles of the People of Ḥadīth¹ and the very foundation of their monotheism.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Thābit al-Ṭurqī said: “I read Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī’s book entitled al-Ibānah, in the passages that present the evidences for affirming the divine istiwāʾ. Among what he states there is:

‘Among the supplications of the Muslims, when they beseech Allah, is: “O Inhabitant of the Throne!” and among their oaths: “No—by Him who has veiled Himself with seven!”’

272 – With an open ṭāʾ and a silent rāʾ; he is named after Ṭurq, a village in Isfahān. He died sometime after 520 AH.

273 – al-Ibānah, pp. 35–36. I say: there is some reservation about his phrase “O Inhabitant of the Throne,” for, to the best of my knowledge, no sound report transmits it.

292 – The master Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī —may Allah have mercy on him—said in his tract “A Complaint on Behalf of Ahl al-Sunnah”:

“They found fault with Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī only because he affirmed the decree (qadar) and affirmed the majestic attributes of Allah—His power, knowledge, life, hearing, sight, face, hand—and held that the Quran is His speech, uncreated.

I heard Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq say: I heard the jurist Zāhir ibn Aḥmad say: ‘Al-Ashʿarī, may Allah have mercy on him, died with his head in my lap. During his final moments he was uttering something from deep in his throat. I drew my head close and listened intently to what reached my ears, and he was saying: “May Allah curse the Muʿtazilah—obfuscators and wreckers!”’”

274 – Tab’yīn Kadhib al-Muftarī, p. 111.

275 – at-Tabyīn, p. 148; the additional wording is taken from that edition.