The first passage: Imam Abū Abd Allāh Ubayd Allāh ibn Muhammad ibn Battah al-Ukbarī (d. 387 AH).

He—may Allah have mercy on him—said in his book “An Exposition of the Religious Way of the Saved Sect and Avoidance of the Condemned Sects”:

“… For the foundation of faith in Allah consists of three matters that His creatures must believe in order to affirm their faith in Him:

First: the servant must believe in His lordship, thereby distinguishing himself from the doctrine of those who profess negation and affirm no Creator.

Second: he must believe in His oneness, thereby distinguishing himself from the doctrines of the polytheists, who acknowledge the Creator yet worship others alongside Him.

Third: he must believe that Allah possesses the attributes that necessarily belong to Him, including knowledge, power, wisdom, and all the other attributes with which He has described Himself in His Book.

For we know that many who acknowledge Him and affirm His oneness in general terms may deviate concerning His attributes, and their deviation concerning His attributes undermines their monotheism.

This is also because we find that Allah Most High has addressed His servants, calling upon them to accept each of these three matters and have faith in them.

As for His call to them to acknowledge His lordship and oneness, we shall not discuss this here because of the length and breadth of the discussion it would entail, and because a Jahmī claims to acknowledge both, even though his denial of the attributes has invalidated his claim to affirm them …”1.

He then proceeded to present evidence refuting the Jahmiyyah’s denial of the attributes. This, then, is a passage