in their doctrines, and their unsoundness, as no one else had done. This was because he had been one of them and had studied speculative theology under Abū Alī al-Jubbāī for forty years. He was intelligent, but later broke with them, authored works refuting them, and championed Ibn Kullāb’s approach concerning the divine attributes because it was closer to the truth and the Sunnah than their doctrine. He knew of no other approach, for he was not well versed in the Sunnah and hadith, the statements of the Companions, the Successors, and others, or the early generations’ exegesis of the Quran. Knowledge of the pure Sunnah can be derived only from these sources (1).
For this reason, he gives (2) a detailed account of the Mutazilīs’ doctrine in al-Maqālāt: he records (3) each individual’s position and the disputes among them on matters great and small, just as Ibn (4) Abī Zayd (5) relates the doctrines of Mālik’s followers, and just as Abū al-Hasan al-Qudūrī (6) relates the disagreements among Abū Hanīfa’s followers. He also presents the doctrines of the Kharijites and Rāfidīs (7). His account of them (8), however, was taken from books by writers on sectarian doctrines, not through direct contact
(1) N, M, W, and A read: “from here.”
(2) H, R, and B read: “he mentioned.”
(3) “He mentions” is omitted in W.
(4) M, R, and H read: “as is related from.”
(5) Abū Zayd Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman Abī Zayd al-Nafzāwī al-Qayrawānī was the leading Mālikī scholar of his time and was known as “the Lesser Mālik.” Al-Dhahabī said: “In matters of doctrine, he adhered to the principles of the salaf; he knew nothing of *kalām* (speculative theology) and did not resort to figurative interpretation.” His best-known work is *al-Risāla*, on the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah; it has been published and has received numerous commentaries. He was born in 310 AH and died in 386 AH. See his biography in *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 3:131; Ibn Farhūn, *al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab*, pp. 136–138; and *al-Alām*, 4:230–231.
(6) Abū al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Jafar al-Qudūrī became the leading Hanafi authority in Iraq. He authored the Hanafi legal compendium *al-Mukhtasar*, commonly known as *al-Qudūrī*, which has been published. He was born in Baghdad in 362 AH and died there in 428 AH. See his biography in *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, 1:60–61; *al-Jawāhir al-Mudiyya*, 1:93–94; *al-Nujūm al-Zāhira*, 5:24–25; and *al-Alām*, 1:206.
(7) W reads: “and the Rāfida.”
(8) A reads: “but by transmitting them”; B and W have the same reading. R reads: “but he knows”; H reads: “not because he knows.”