the Sabians and the idolaters. Such people are unbelievers in their inner reality, and whoever is aware of their true state must likewise judge them unbelievers outwardly as well.1

Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—also said:

“As for specifying which sects are doomed, the earliest person we know who declared them astray was Yūsuf ibn Asbāṭ, followed by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak. Both were eminent Imams and towering authorities among the Muslims.

They said, ‘The roots of innovation are four: the Rafidites, the Khawarij, the Qadarites, and the Murjiʾites.’ Someone asked Ibn al-Mubārak, ‘What about the Jahmites?’ He replied, ‘Those people are not part of the community of Muhammad.’

He used to say, ‘We can recount the words of the Jews and the Christians, yet we cannot bring ourselves to recount the words of the Jahmites.’ A number of scholars—from Imam Ahmad’s followers and others—adopted this view. They said, ‘The Jahmites are unbelievers, and therefore they are not included among the seventy-two sects—just as the hypocrites who conceal unbelief while outwardly professing Islam, the zindiqs, are not included.’

Other scholars from among Ahmad’s circle and beyond disagreed, saying, ‘Rather, the Jahmites are included among the seventy-two sects,’ and on that basis they counted five roots of innovation.1

He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said:

“The origin of this doctrine—the doctrine of negating the divine attributes—was taken from the disciples of the Jews, the idolaters, and the misguided Sabians. The first person recorded as uttering this claim within Islam—namely, the assertion that Allah, exalted be He, is not truly upon the Throne and that His istiwāʾ…"