321—Muhammad ibn al-Muzaffar al-Muqri’ informed us; al-Husayn ibn ⦗198⦘ Muhammad ibn Habash al-Muqri’ narrated to us; Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hatim narrated to us:

“I asked my father and Abu Zur‘ah about the doctrines of Ahl al-Sunnah concerning the foundations of religion, what they had found the scholars in all regions to hold, and what they themselves believed concerning this. They replied:

‘We found the scholars in all regions—the Hijaz, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen—upon the following doctrine: faith consists of speech and deeds; it increases and decreases. The Quran is the Speech of Allah and is uncreated in every respect. Divine decree, its good and its evil, is from Allah, exalted is He.

“The best of this Ummah after its Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, then Umar ibn al-Khattab, then Uthman ibn Affan, then Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with them. They are the rightly guided caliphs. We affirm Paradise for the ten whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, named and testified would enter Paradise, just as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, testified; and his statement is true. We pray for mercy upon all the Companions of Muhammad and refrain from speaking about the disputes that arose among them.

“Allah, exalted is He, is above His Throne, distinct from His creation, as He has described Himself in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, without asking how. His knowledge encompasses all things: ‘There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.’ [al-Shura: 11]

“He, exalted is He, will be seen in the Hereafter: the people of Paradise will see Him with their eyes ⦗199⦘ and will hear His Speech in whatever manner He wills and as He wills. Paradise is true, and the Fire is true; both are created and will never perish. Paradise is the reward for His devoted servants, while the Fire is the punishment for those who disobey Him, except for those upon whom Allah, exalted is He, has mercy.

“The Bridge is true, and the Scale is true. It has two pans, upon which the deeds of the servants—their good and evil deeds—will truly be weighed. The Basin with which our Prophet has been honored is true. Intercession is true, and resurrection after death is true. Those guilty of major sins are subject to Allah’s will.

“We do not declare those who face the qiblah, the direction of prayer, to be unbelievers on account of their sins, and we entrust their hidden affairs to Allah, exalted is He. We maintain the obligation of jihad and Hajj alongside the Muslim rulers in every age and time. We do not hold rebellion against the rulers to be permissible, nor fighting during civil strife. We hear and obey those whom Allah, exalted is He, has placed in authority over us, and we do not renounce obedience. We follow the sunnah and the united community, and we avoid deviation, dissent, and division.

“Jihad remains operative from the time Allah, exalted is He, sent His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, until the coming of the Hour, alongside those in authority among the Muslim rulers; nothing can invalidate it. The same applies to Hajj, and to delivering the alms due on grazing livestock to those in authority among the Muslim rulers.

“People are regarded as believers with respect to legal rulings and inheritance, but we do not know what they are before Allah, exalted is He. ⦗200⦘ Whoever says, ‘He is truly a believer,’ is an innovator. Whoever says, ‘He is a believer in the sight of Allah,’ is among the liars. But whoever says, ‘He is truly a believer in Allah,’ is correct.

“The Murji’ah and the innovators are misguided, and the innovating Qadariyyah are misguided. Whoever among them denies that Allah, exalted is He, knows what has not yet occurred before it occurs is an unbeliever. The Jahmiyyah are unbelievers; the Rafidah have rejected Islam; and the Kharijites are renegades. Whoever claims that the Quran is created has committed disbelief in Allah the Magnificent—a disbelief that expels one from the religion. Whoever, being able to understand, doubts his disbelief is himself an unbeliever.

“Whoever doubts concerning the Speech of Allah, suspending judgment about it and saying, ‘I do not know whether it is created or uncreated,’ is a Jahmi. Whoever suspends judgment regarding the Quran out of ignorance is to be taught and deemed an innovator, but is not to be declared an unbeliever. Whoever says, ‘My utterance of the Quran is created,’ is a Jahmi; and whoever says, ‘The Quran as uttered by me is created,’ is a Jahmi.’”

Abu Muhammad said: “I heard my father say: ‘The sign of the innovators is their attacking the adherents of transmitted tradition. The sign of the heretics is their calling Ahl al-Sunnah Hashwiyyah—the “rabble”—by which they seek to invalidate the transmitted reports. The sign of the Jahmiyyah is their calling Ahl al-Sunnah anthropomorphists. The sign of the Qadariyyah is their calling the adherents of transmitted tradition compulsionists. ⦗201⦘ The sign of the Murji’ah is their calling Ahl al-Sunnah dissenters and proponents of diminishing faith. The sign of the Rafidah is their calling Ahl al-Sunnah Nawasib, anti-Alid partisans. Only one designation properly applies to Ahl al-Sunnah, and it is impossible for all these designations to apply to them.’