the people of misguidance and innovation. He is the man called Hasan ibn ʿAlī al-Saqqāf. Praise be to Allah, I have not examined any of his books except one that I had the misfortune to read: “Denouncing Those Who Divide Monotheism into Categories: Refuting the Attempt to Introduce Trinitarianism into Monotheism and the Islamic Creed.” I was appalled by its contents, for he had ruled that Muslims at large—who affirm Allah’s oneness in His lordship, His names and attributes, and His divinity—had introduced a trinity into their creed.
It is well known that the Trinity is a false Christian doctrine whose adherents Allah has declared disbelievers in the Quran. I never imagined that anyone could be so audacious as to pass such a judgment or make such a false and unjust assertion, until I encountered the words of this wretched, doomed man. I say, as someone once said:
Allah postponed my death, and so it was delayed,
Until I saw what wonders time displayed.
This is from the book’s title alone. As for its contents, they include many astonishing claims, bizarre notions and grave enormities, any one of which would suffice to exclude the man from the ranks of scholars—indeed, even from the ranks of rational people. Allah will reckon with him for what he has put forward, and before Allah the disputants will gather. Having read his book in full, the following became clear to me about him:
First: He is a staunch Jahmī who holds that his Lord is not to be described as either outside the world or within it, and he falsely and dishonestly attributes this view to Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah.
Second: I found him to be a consummate distorter of scholars’ statements and texts.
Third: I found him much given to lying, deception and obfuscation.
Fourth: He is also sharp-tongued and foul-mouthed, leveling grave accusations against Ahl al-Sunnah. Examples include his descriptions of them on p. 6 as “pseudo-Salafīs” and on p. 12 as “people with minds given to shallow, superficial thinking,” and his words on p. 17: “So claim your glory in corporealism