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The_Savior_from_Spiritual_Error, page : 74
I made a collection of these utterances, arranged them in logical order
and formulated them correctly. I also gave a complete answer to them.
Consequently, some of the orthodox (Ahl al-Haqq) criticized me for my
painstaking restatement of their arguments. “You are doing their work for
them”, they said, “for they would not uphold their system in with these
dubious and ambiguous utterances had you not restated them and put them
in order”.
In a way this criticism is justified. Ahmad Ibn Hanbal once criticized al-
Harith al-Muhasibi, may Allah have mercy on them, for his book, The
Refutation of the Mu`tazilah. “It is a duty to refute heresy”, al-Harith replied.
“Certainly”, said Ahmad, “but first you give an account of their false
doctrines and afterwards a refutation of them. How can you be sure what
men will do? A man might read the false doctrines and grasp them with his
understanding without afterwards reading the refutation; or he might peruse
the refutation without understanding its full import‟.
Ahmad‟s observation is justified, but it applies to false doctrines that are
not widely and generally known. Where such doctrine is widely known, it
and formulated them correctly. I also gave a complete answer to them.
Consequently, some of the orthodox (Ahl al-Haqq) criticized me for my
painstaking restatement of their arguments. “You are doing their work for
them”, they said, “for they would not uphold their system in with these
dubious and ambiguous utterances had you not restated them and put them
in order”.
In a way this criticism is justified. Ahmad Ibn Hanbal once criticized al-
Harith al-Muhasibi, may Allah have mercy on them, for his book, The
Refutation of the Mu`tazilah. “It is a duty to refute heresy”, al-Harith replied.
“Certainly”, said Ahmad, “but first you give an account of their false
doctrines and afterwards a refutation of them. How can you be sure what
men will do? A man might read the false doctrines and grasp them with his
understanding without afterwards reading the refutation; or he might peruse
the refutation without understanding its full import‟.
Ahmad‟s observation is justified, but it applies to false doctrines that are
not widely and generally known. Where such doctrine is widely known, it