then by Allah, then by Allah, we have surely omitted more than we have mentioned; and were we to go about investigating and tracing every person who avoided them from their day until now, we would have exceeded ten thousand individuals. End quote.

I conclude this footnote by mentioning selected verses from the Nuniyyah of al-Qahtani (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding his exposure and lampooning of the Ash’arites and the clarification of the reality of their doctrine in his famous Nuniyyah concerning the chapters of the Sunnah, legal rulings, ethics, and other matters. He says:

And now I lampoon the Ash’ari and his faction,

And I broadcast the slander they have concealed.

O assembly of theologians, you have transgressed,

Like the transgression of the People of the Sabbath regarding the whales.

Did you claim that the Qur’an is a mere expression (‘ibārah)?

Then there are, according to what you relate, two Qur’ans.

The faith of Gabriel and the faith of one

Who commits acts of disobedience are, according to you, equal.

This 'indivisible part' (al-juwayhir) and 'accident' (al-‘urayd), by your claim,

Are they the two roots for the knowledge of guidance?

Whoever lives in this world and does not know them,

Yet affirms Islam and the Criterion (al-Furqān),

Is he a Muslim in your view, or a disbeliever?

Or is he sane, or ignorant, or languid?

You have divested the seven high heavens,

And you have emptied the Throne of the Most Merciful.

And you claimed that the communication to Ahmad [the Prophet]

Was [only] regarding a verse from the entirety of the Qur’an.

These are mere rhetorical babbles (shaqāshiq), delusions, and whims,

And the newly-invented, satanic doctrine.

You called the science of the foundations (‘ilm al-uṣūl) a misguidance,

Just as the name 'nabidh' is given to the wine of the vats.

And your womenfolk lamented over the likes of you,

While Allah has protected and shielded me from them.

Indeed, I have clung to the rope of the law of Muhammad,

And I have bitten upon it with my molar teeth.

Have you realized, O Ash’arites, that I am

A flood of the sea—and what a flood!

I am your anxiety, I am your grief, I am your malady,

I am your poison, in secret and in public.

You have removed the light of the Qur’an and its beauty,

From every bewildered, yearning heart.

So, by the right of the All-Compelling One who rose over the Throne,

Without anthropomorphism (tamthīl), as the sinner claims,

And by the right of He who sealed the Message and Guidance

With Muhammad, so the Two Sanctuaries flourished by him,

I shall certainly sever your reputations with my pickaxe,

As long as my body accompanies my soul.