Ibn Batta, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mandah, and... others among the Imams who are the lamps of guidance and the lanterns of the darkness.
How can it be said, after this, that speaking about it is an innovation and delving into it is superfluous speech?!
Rather, we say what they said, and we refrain from what they refrained from. We say that opposing them in what they agreed upon is an innovation, for what sufficed them suffices us. They were more knowledgeable of Allah, His attributes, and what befits Him—Glorified be He—and they were the furthest from falsehood, argumentation, scholastic theology (ilm al-kalam), and delving into it.
May Allah have mercy on Ibn Taymiyyah as he says in Majmu‘ al-Fatawa (2/477): "The Predecessors and the Imams are more knowledgeable about Islam and its realities; indeed, many people may not understand their severity in censuring a statement until they reflect upon it and are granted the light of guidance."
Unfortunately, many of those engaged in teaching the creeds of the People of the Sunnah (Ahl al-Sunnah) and authoring works on them have followed al-Dhahabi in this matter and other matters in which he diverged from the People of the Sunnah—such as the issue of disparaging contemporaries, the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqam al-Mahmud), the Image (al-Surah), seeking blessings (tabarruk) from the Prophet's (ﷺ) grave, touching it, and traveling specifically to it, along with other matters and errors that were held against al-Dhahabi, as I have clarified in my book al-Ihtijaj bi-l-Athar al-Salafiyyah ‘ala Ithbat al-Sifat al-Ilahiyyah (pp. 306–313). And Allah knows best.
