The well-established, mass-transmitted reports from these imams are known and extant, and they were among the sources upon which Ahl al-Sunnah relied (1).

The leading Rāfidī scholars acknowledge that they did not derive this doctrine concerning divine oneness, the divine attributes, and divine decree from either the Book, the sunnah, or the imams of the Prophet’s Household. Rather, they claim that reason guided them to it, just as the Mutazilites claim. [In reality, however, they derived it only from the Mutazilites, who are their teachers concerning divine oneness and justice] (2). They merely claim that they received the religious laws from the imams. Most of their views on religious law agree with the position of Ahl al-Sunnah—or [of some among Ahl al-Sunnah] (3)—[though they have some abhorrent, singular rulings on which no one agrees with them] (4). They also hold certain views distinct from those of the four schools which were held by others besides [the four] (5), including members of the early generations, the Literalists, Mutazilite jurists, and others. These and similar matters fall within the realm of juristic reasoning and are of relatively little consequence, unlike an anomalous view known to have no basis in the Book of Allah (6), the sunnah of His Messenger [- may Allah bless him and grant him peace -] (7), and which no one before them had ever espoused (8).

[No Muslim scholar has ever said that the truth is confined to four Muslim scholars, such as Abū Hanīfa, Mālik, al-Shāfiī, and Ahmad, as is reproachfully charged