of speech, and if this is not outright nullification (taʿṭīl), then there is no such thing as taʿṭīl in the whole world.

So obvious is the invalidity of speculative theology (kalām) that many of their finest scholars eventually repented of it (1). One example is the distinguished scholar Shaykh Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf al-Juwaynī, the father of Imām al-Ḥaramayn—may Allah have mercy on them both. His treatise affirming Allah’s rising above the Throne (istiwāʾ), His transcendence (fawqiyyah), and the reality of letters and sound in the Noble Qur’an is among the strongest proofs of his retraction. He composed it as sincere advice to his brothers in faith, explaining why he left Ashʿarism for the creed of the early generations. It is of great benefit to anyone who hopes for Allah and the Last Day; see it in Majmūʿat al-Rasāʾil al-Munīriyyah ⦗1/570–587⦘.

His son, Imām al-Ḥaramayn, followed the same course—repenting and returning to the doctrine of the salaf—as more than one scholar has reported, including the ḥadith master Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī. In Fatḥ al-Bārī ⦗13/350⦘ he relates that Imām al-Ḥaramayn admitted he had gained nothing from kalām but confusion; hence he said,

“Now I have recanted and adopted the creed of the early generations.”

On his death-bed he counselled his students, just as his father had before him:

“O my companions, do not occupy yourselves with kalām. Had I known it would bring me to what I have reached, I would never have engaged in it.”

And if you, dear reader, wish to witness one of the perilous effects of speculative theology—effects that clash with sound transmitted proof and plain reason—then read the works of al-Kawtharī.