The Prophet ﷺ also said, “Whoever performs a deed for which we have given no directive, it is rejected.” Al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār narrated this to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Mukharrimī narrated it, from Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, from al-Qāsim, from ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—who related it from the Prophet ﷺ.

ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—further instructed that all ignorant assertions be referred back to the Book and the Sunnah.

Abū ʿAbd Allah said: “Anyone who does not recognize—through Allah’s own speech—that it is uncreated must be taught, and his ignorance returned to the Book and the Sunnah. If, once knowledge has reached him, he still refuses, he is wilfully defiant. Allah the Exalted says: ‘Allah would never cause a people to go astray after He has guided them until He makes clear to them what they must avoid’ (9:115); and He says: ‘Whoever defies the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows a way other than that of the believers, We will leave him to the path he has chosen and cast him into Hell—what an evil destination!’ (4:115).

“As for the proofs that both factions cite in support of the school of Ahmad, each claiming them for itself, many of their transmissions are unreliable, and perhaps they have not grasped the subtleties of his position. What is firmly established from Ahmad and the scholars is that the speech of Allah is uncreated, whereas everything else is created; that they disliked probing and digging into obscure matters; they avoided the people of speculative theology and refrained from plunging into argument and contention, except on issues for which knowledge has been transmitted and clarified by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”