I say: Glory be to Allah! How much today resembles yesterday! Here is this Jahmite innovator—indeed, this denier—again reviling him and impugning him, in imitation of al-Kawthari, al-Ghumari, and others like them among the Jahmites, for the very reason Ibn Hibban—may Allah have mercy on him—mentioned. Thus, like them, he has set himself to level unfounded accusations against him, to the point that he has declared weak this authentic hadith, which the Ummah has accepted—even Ibn al-Jawzi accepted it in al-Daf‘, a work that opened for him the door to Jahmism. For, knowing Hammad to be trustworthy, Ibn al-Jawzi had no choice but to concede it; yet he interpreted it in a figurative sense. This leads them to interpret even the existence of His Essence, Exalted is He, figuratively as well, since created beings also exist. If they say, “Laughter cannot be attributed to Allah because laughter is an attribute of human beings,” then let them deny His existence altogether, for human beings exist too! They will say, “His existence, Exalted is He, is not like ours.” We then say: Apply the same statement to every attribute of Allah established in the Book or the sunnah: it is not like our attributes. Then you will be at ease and rightly guided:

“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

Thus, He has hearing, but it is not like our hearing; and sight, but it is not like our sight. He laughs, but His laughter is not like ours. For what is said of the Essence, in terms of affirmation and transcendence, is said of all the attributes.

This truth contains no obscurity,
so spare me the little byways.

Moreover, reality bears witness that every denying Jahmite is among those of whom Allah says:

“Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god? Allah has led him astray despite knowledge, sealed his hearing and his heart, and placed a covering over his sight.”

That is because they seek to declare the hadiths concerning the divine attributes weak by every illegitimate means, just as this denier did with this hadith. He declared one of the imams of the Muslims weak on the basis of a false allegation that he fabricated against him. Then he paid no heed to the trustworthy narrators who corroborated him, as mentioned above, nor to the occurrence of this attribute in other hadiths in the two Sahihs and elsewhere—such that whoever examines them is certain that it is established as an attribute of Allah, Exalted is He. He does the same with every hadith concerning the divine attributes—