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Spiritual_Roadmap_by_Ghazali, page : 71
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
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