is a verbal dispute, not a substantive one. Accordingly, one group of the followers of [Imam] (1) Ahmad—such as the Tamīmīs and Qadi [Abū Ya'lā] (2), in the first of his two positions—denied it (3), while another group, [more numerous than the first group] (4), affirmed it; this was the latter of the Qadi’s two positions (5).
[Those who follow the early generations do not unreservedly deny or affirm it unless it has first been made clear that what the term is used to affirm is indeed established, and what it is used to deny is indeed negated. This is because, in the terminology of later scholars, the term “direction” came to be imprecise and ambiguous, like their other technical terms; not all of them use it in precisely the same linguistic sense. Consequently, those who deny it use it to deny both truth and falsehood, and they attribute to those who affirm it positions that they do not hold. Some of those who affirm it, meanwhile, include within it a false meaning contrary to the position of the early generations and to what is indicated by the Book and the Balance] (6).
(1) The word “Imam” is added in ʿ.
(2) In N and M, the word *ka-l-Tamīmiyyīn* (“like the Tamīmīs”) is corruptly written. The words “Abī Yaʿlā” are absent from B, A, N, and M. Several of Ahmad’s followers were known as al-Tamīmī, including: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Hārith ibn Asad, Abū al-Hasan al-Tamīmī (d. 317 AH; see *Tabaqāt al-Hanābila*, 2:139; Ibn al-Jawzī, *al-Muntazam*, 7:110); his grandson Abū Muhammad Rizq Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Hārith ibn Asad al-Tamīmī (d. 488 AH), the best known of the Tamīmīs (see *Tabaqāt al-Hanābila*, 2:250–251; Ibn Rajab, *al-Dhayl*, 1:77–85; *al-Muntazam*, 9:88–89); ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Abū al-Faraj al-Tamīmī, the father of Abū Muhammad (d. 425 AH; see *Tabaqāt al-Hanābila*, 2:182; *al-Muntazam*, 8:81); and ʿAbd al-Wāhid ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Abū al-Fadl al-Tamīmī, the brother of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (d. 410 AH; see *Tabaqāt al-Hanābila*, 2:179; *al-Muntazam*, 7:295). In his biography of Rizq Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Ibn Abī Yaʿlā states: “He was one of the prominent figures of the Hanbali school, as were his father, uncle, and grandfather.” Ibn Taymiyya may therefore have intended to refer to them.
(3) B, A, N, and M read: “they deny it.”
(4) The words “more numerous than the first group” are absent from N and M.
(5) N and M read: “position.”
(6) The passage enclosed in square brackets is absent from B, A, N, and M.