Refutation of those who have strayed from the way of the early generations in matters of Allah’s names and attributes—the anthropomorphists and the negators:

Those who deviate from the Salaf’s methodology regarding Allah’s names and attributes are of two kinds: the anthropomorphists and the negators.

1. The anthropomorphists
   These people liken Allah to His creation and treat His attributes as if they belonged to the same order as created qualities; hence they are called “anthropomorphists.” The first to advance this claim were Hisham ibn al-Hakam, the Rāfiḍī, and Bayān ibn Samʿān al-Tamīmī, after whom the extremist Bayāniyya branch of the Shi‘a is named. The anthropomorphists carried their affirmation of the attributes to excess, adding to it matters that Allah and His Messenger have negated—attributes of deficiency that do not befit Him. Exalted is Allah, far above what they allege.