to embrace Jahmite doctrine and to deny the divine attributes. This was the position later taken up by the Rafidites; they even drew certain rulers over to their side. The people of the Sunnah and the mainstream community would not yield. Some were threatened with death, others were shackled, punished, and coerced by fear and inducement. Yet Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal stood firm. He was imprisoned for a time, and then his opponents summoned their champions to debate him. Day after day they were silenced; they produced no argument that obliged him to agree, whereas he exposed the flaws in every proof they advanced.

Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, went on to say:
“Ahmad—and the rest of the scholars of the Sunnah and hadith—had always known the unsoundness of the creeds of the Rafidites, the Khawarij, the Qadarites, the Jahmites, and the Murjiʾites. Owing to the ordeal, however, discussion of these matters became widespread, and Allah exalted the rank of this Imam. He became one of the great authorities and standard-bearers of the Sunnah because he proclaimed it, made it manifest, examined its texts and reports, and laid bare its hidden subtleties—not because he originated a new doctrine or invented a novel opinion.1”

Ibn Taymiyyah also said:
“It must be understood that many innovators are guilty of major hypocrisy; such people are unbelievers consigned to the lowest depths of Hell. How often do we find among the Rafidites, the Jahmites, and the like, heretical hypocrites! Indeed, the very root of these innovations lies with such heretical hypocrites whose unbelief stems from…"