Are they more learned and knowledgeable than he was, greater in number, and stronger in argument?! If what prompted them to do this were genuinely scholarly investigation, then no one could fault them. As is obvious, scholarly investigation means examining all the hadiths reported on this subject and studying their chains of transmission and narrators, then judging them according to what they deserve in terms of authenticity or weakness. Once one of them was deemed authentic, they would study it in terms of its indications, jurisprudential implications, general and specific applications—all in accordance with the rules of hadith methodology and the principles of jurisprudence. Had they done this, no one could have criticized them, and they would have been rewarded. But, by Allah, they do none of this. Rather, when an issue is presented to them, they examine the opinions of the scholars concerning it, then adopt what is easier or what they claim is closer to realizing the public interest, without considering whether it accords with the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. How often, by this method, they have prescribed matters for people in the name of Islamic law from which Islam is entirely free. To Allah alone we direct our complaint.
Therefore, O Muslim, be diligent in learning your Islam from the Book of your Lord and the Sunnah of your Prophet. Do not say, “So-and-so said,” for the truth is not known through men. Rather, know the truth, and you will know its people. May Allah have mercy on the one who said:
Knowledge is what Allah said, what His Messenger said,
what the Companions said—not deceptive embellishment.
Knowledge is not your foolishly setting up dispute
between the Messenger and a jurist’s opinion.
Nor is it the denial and negation of the Attributes,
out of fear of anthropomorphism and resemblance.
Third: Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, may punish some of the openly disobedient with a tangible worldly punishment, transforming them and changing their forms—and consequently their minds—into those of beasts.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Fatḥ (10/49), while discussing the metamorphosis mentioned in the hadith:
“Ibn al-ʿArabī said: It may be understood literally, as occurred with earlier nations, or it may be that…”