Disavowing Innovations and Their Adherents
The eloquent theologian and skilled debater, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Bishr ibn Ghiyāth al-Marīsī, was a Jahmī and held a prominent position in the state. He was known to drink nabīdh (fermented beverage). Once, he remarked to a man named Kāmil (perfect and complete): “His name itself is proof that the name is distinct from the named.” 1
He passed away in the year 218 AH. Thus, Bishr al-Sharr (Bishr of Evil) and Bishr al-Ḥāfī (was Bishr of Good) were opposites, just as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was Aḥmad of the Sunnah, while Aḥmad ibn Abī Dāwūd was Aḥmad of Innovation.
A person declared an innovator, even if his deviation is great, is not the same as a disbeliever by origin, nor is he like a Jew or a Magian. Allah does not equate one who believes in Him, His Messenger ﷺ, and the Last Day—who prays, fasts, performs Hajj, and gives charity, even if he commits major sins, goes astray, and innovates—with one who rejects the Messenger, worships idols, discards the divine laws, and disbelieves. However, we disavow innovations and their adherents for the sake of Allah.
(Siyarul A’laamin Nubalaa: 10/199-200)
- From the innovations of the Jahmiyah and the Mu’tazilah is that they used to say “The name of something is other than the thing named”. They intended to detach Allah from His names by declaring that the names of Allah are other than Allah Himself and anything other than Allah is created. ↩︎
