As for those who affirm them, such as al-Ashʿarī and the leading scholars among his followers, they say:
To interpret them in a manner that entails denying them is a false [interpretation] (1). Thus, they do not merely consign their meaning to Allah; rather, they also invalidate the interpretations advanced by those who deny them.
Al-Ashʿarī stated this in most of his books, such as al-Mūjaz, al-Maqālāt al-Kabīr, al-Maqālāt al-Saghīr, and al-Ibāna (2), among others. His statements on this matter were consistent. However, some of those who agree with him, as well as some who oppose him, attribute another position to him, or say (3), “He professed outwardly something other than what he concealed inwardly.” His books demonstrate the falsity of both suppositions.
As for the third position—which is the position reliably established from the imams of the unadulterated Sunnah, such as Imam Ahmad and his peers (4)—they neither affirm nor deny the term “body,” for two reasons:
(1) The word “interpretation” is omitted from N and M.
(2) Ibn Asākir states in *Tabyīn Kadhib al-Muftarī*, p. 129: “He next mentioned the work he entitled *Kitāb al-Mūjaz*. It comprises twelve books, corresponding to the various doctrines of the opponents, both those outside the faith and those belonging to it.” He later states (pp. 130–131): “We authored a book on the doctrines of the Muslims that encompasses all their disagreements and doctrines. We also authored a book summarizing the doctrines of the heretics and the statements of the monotheists, which we entitled *Jumal al-Maqālāt*.” Neither *al-Mūjaz*, also called *al-Mūjaz al-Kabīr*—see *Tabyīn Kadhib al-Muftarī*, p. 140—nor *Jumal al-Maqālāt*, also called *al-Maqālāt al-Kabīr*, is available to us. As for *al-Maqālāt al-Saghīr*, it is *Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn wa-Ikhtilāf al-Musallīn*. *Al-Ibāna* is *al-Ibāna an Usūl al-Diyāna*, which has been published in several editions in Hyderabad and Egypt. On these and other works by al-Asharī, see *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, 2/447; *Tabaqāt al-Shāfiiyya*, 3/359–361; al-Maqrīzī, *al-Khitat*, 2/359; *Dāirat al-Maārif al-Islāmiyya*, entry “al-Asharī”; al-Ziriklī, *al-Alām*, 5/69; Brockelmann, *Tārīkh al-Adab al-Arabī*, 4/37–41; Sezgin, m. [0–9], vol. [0–9], pp. 35–39.
(3) N and M read: “and they say.”
(4) A and B read: “and those below him in rank.”