le to the Deity. Abu Bakr-al-Bakillani, a disciple of Al-Ash'ari,
says: "The essence or substance of the action is the effect of the power of
God, but its being an action of obedience, such as prayer, or an action of
disobedience, such as fornication, are qualities of the action, which
proceed from the power of man." The Imam Al-Haramain (419-478 A.H.) held
"that the actions of men were effected by the power which God has created
in man." Abu Ishaq al Isfarayain says: "That which maketh impression, or
hath influence on action, is a compound of the power of God and the power
of man." {131}

(iii.) They say that the word of God is eternal, though they acknowledge
that the vocal sounds used in the Quran, which is the manifestation of that
word, are created. They say, in short, that the Quran contains (1) the
eternal word which existed in the essence of God before time was; and (2)
the word which consists of sounds and combinations of letters. This last
they call the created word.

Thus Al-Ash'ari traversed the main positions of the Mutazilites, denying
that man can by the aid of his reason alone rise to the knowledge of good
and evil. He must exercise no judgment but accept all that is revealed. He
has no right to apply the moral laws which affect men to the actions of
God. It cannot be asserted by the human reason that the good will be
rewarded, or the bad punished in a future world. Man must always approach
God as a slave, in whom there is no light or knowledge to judge of the
actions of the Supreme. Whether God will accept the penitent sinner or not
cannot be asserted, for He is an absolute Sovereign, above all law.[117]

The opinions of the more irrational sub-divisions of the Sifatians need not
be entered into at any length.

The Mushabihites (or Assimilators), interpreting some of the mutashabih
verses literally, held that there is a resemblance between God and His
creatures; and that the Deity is capable of local motion, of ascending,
descending, &c. These they called "declarative attributes." The
Mujassimians (or Corporealists) declared God to be corporeal, by which some
of them meant, a self-subsisting body, whilst others declared the Deity to
be finite. They are acknowledged to be heretics.

{132}

The Jabrians gave great prominence to the denial of free agency in man, and
thus opposed the Mutazilites, who in this respect are Kadrians, that is,
they deny "Al-Kadr," God's absolute sovereignty, and recognize f