meaning His command and power according to their own interpretation—not that he himself held this view, for his position was to refrain from reinterpretation.
“The third view: They regarded this as a position transmitted from Ahmad. The imams’ statements may vary on matters such as these, but the soundly established and well-known position reported from him is the rejection of reinterpretation.
“Ibn al-Zāghūnī and others mentioned both reports. He noted that refraining from reinterpretation is the well-known reported position generally followed by the shaykhs of our school”1.
- The writer says on p. 42: “... he [i.e., Ibn Taymiyyah] affirms attributes for Allah, Glorified be He, on the basis of fabricated hadiths or Israelite reports. For example, he affirms that Allah speaks with a voice resembling thunder.” In the footnote, he refers to Muwāfaqat Sarīh al-Maʿqūl, printed in the margins of Minhāj al-Sunnah (2/151).
I say: Far be it from Ibn Taymiyyah or other adherents of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah to establish any point of creed on fabricated hadiths or Israelite reports. Rather, this is the practice of those proponents of innovation who muddle matters and mislead others.
Ibn Khuzaymah, the imam of imams—may Allah have mercy on him—says in his great work al-Tawhīd (Divine Oneness):
“I have made it clear more times than I can count that I do not consider it lawful to mislead students of knowledge by citing a weak report as evidence. I fear my Creator, Glorious and Exalted, should I mislead students of knowledge by citing weak reports as evidence, even if those reports support my position”2.
And Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—says, after mentioning the hadith narrated by Ibn Mājah in his Sunan from ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Sālih, reporting that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Faith is knowledge