And regarding divine oneness, they held the same position as the Mu'tazilah and the Kharijites.”
Abū al-Hasan al-Ash'arī (1) said: “These were a group from among their later adherents (2). Their earliest adherents, however, held the anthropomorphic views that we have recounted (3) from them.”
I say: The corporealism that [Abū al-Hasan] (4) al-Ash'arī attributed to the early Shi'a has been unanimously reported of them by writers on sectarian doctrines. Even the Shi'a themselves—such as Ibn al-Nawbakhtī and others—mentioned [this concerning] these Shi'a (5).
Abū Muhammad ibn Hazm and others said: “The first person in Islam to say, ‘Allah is a body,’ was [Hishām ibn al-Hakam] (6). Those who opposed him on this matter were theologians (7) from among the Mu'tazilah, such as Abū al-Hudhayl al-'Allāf.”
The Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah were the first to say: “Allah is not a body.” Both positions were held by groups among the Imāmiyyah and among Ahl al-Sunnah who were not Imāmīs.
Affirming corporeality was the position of Muhammad ibn Karrām and those like him who upheld the caliphate of the three caliphs (8), whereas its negation (9) was the position of Abū al-Hasan al-Ash'arī and others who upheld