its author discusses. I therefore wrote on that subject material for which this is not the proper place (1). Likewise, I have discussed the contents of al-Ishārāt elsewhere (2).

The purpose here is merely to draw attention to the general issues. In al-Muhassal and the other books of speculative theology written by its divergent adherents—the works of al-Rāzī and those like him among the Kullābiyya and those who follow their course, as well as the works of the Mu‘tazila, the Shi‘a, the philosophers, and others like them (3)(4)—one does not find what Allah sent His messengers with concerning the fundamentals of religion. Rather, one finds truth mingled with falsehood.

The very question of the Lord’s creation of His creatures is sufficient to demonstrate this. In these works, you will find only the doctrines of the Qadariyya, the Jahmiyya, and the Dahriyya: either a cause, as affirmed by the eternalist philosophers, or an agent possessed of power, as affirmed by the Mu‘tazila and the Jahmiyya. If the author belongs to the Kullābiyya, he further affirms that Kullābī doctrine of the will (5). Anyone who knows the true substance of these doctrines will recognize that, besides contradicting the Book, the sunnah, and the consensus of the salaf, they also contradict the clear dictates of reason (6).

The same applies to what they say about prophethood: those who philosophize affirm prophethood according to the principle they adopt—