[Table of Contents]
Subject........................................................................Page
Introduction to the Critical Edition..........................................5
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Imam of the Sunnah....................................6
The Four Principal Roots of Innovation.....................................8
Why This Book?....................................................................9
Do the Jahmiyyah Become Disbelievers as Individuals?.............12
The Problematic Passages in This Work.................................15
Evidence for the Authentic Ascription of the Book...................17
Biography of Imām Aḥmad (may Allah have mercy on him)......30
A Brief Account of Imām Aḥmad’s Ordeal...............................36
The Author’s Preface (may Allah have mercy on him)..............55
Chapter: Clarifying the Points where the Zindīqs Went Astray....58
Definition of Zindīq and Zindīqah............................................58
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Kullamā naḍijat julūduhum (Every time their skins are roasted, We replace them with new skins)”...............60
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Hādhā yawmu lā yanṭiqūn (This is a Day when they will not speak)”.............................................61
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Rabbanā abṣarnā wa samiʿnā (Our Lord, we have now seen and heard)”...........................................62
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Falā ansāba baynahum yawmaʾidhin (On that Day there will be no ties of kinship between them)”........64
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Mā salakakum fī saqar (What led you into Saqar?)”................65
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Khalaqakum min turāb (He created you from dust)”...............67
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Rabbul-mashriqi wal-maghrib (The Lord of the East and the West)”......................................................68
The Zindīqs’ doubt about Allah’s words:
“Wa inna yawman ʿinda rabbika ka-alfi sanah (Indeed, a single day with your Lord is like a thousand years)”............................................................................69