I dreaded the thought of becoming confused...

I dreaded the thought of becoming confused, so I abandonned this and focussed on that' [i.e., 'I stopped narrating non-Imami hadith and confined myself to Imami hadith'].[^2] These two factors, in addition to others, explain the confi- dence which emanated from the Imams, peace be upon them, and which their partisans had in taking their beliefs and rulings from them, as well as the reliance upon the truthful and trust- worthy people who narrated on their authority.

May Allah forgive our brothers for explaining it as a rupture between Muslim brethren, and transforming it into an indictment, to be added to the other indictments against us! It is clear from this study of ours that the adversaries of the Imamiyyah, no matter how their views differed or their beliefs varied, did not cease to behave towards the Imamiyyah as they did, or as it was claimed they did, concerning what was between them.

I have presented many examples of this, and have refrained from commenting on them. However, here I will relate the opinion of a non-Imami writer concerning one of the most famous books on treatises and sects, to which Muslims of all periods have accorded a high status among all books on the subject. The book is al-Farq bayna 'l-firaq wa bayanu 'l-firqatin-najiyyah minha by Abu Mansur, ‘Abdu 'l-Qahir ibn Tahir al- Baghdadi, al-Ash‘ari, ash-Shafi‘i (d.

429/1038), and in the same vein, his other book al-Milal wa 'n-nihal, both in print; and another book of no less importance, if not as successful, being al-Milal wa 'n-nihal by Abu 'l-Fath, Muhammad ibn ‘Abdi 'l- Karim ash-Shahristani (479/1086–548/1153).

Fakhru'd-Din ar- Razi, the famous theologian and commentator, says of the book al-Milal wa'n-nihal by ash-Shahristani: It is a book which, it claims, relates the doctrines of the world, but it is not relied upon because it draws Islamic beliefs from the book called al-Farq bayna 'l-firaq by Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi, and this teacher was severely bigoted against those who differed in belief and scarcely presented their beliefs in a truthful fashion.

ash-Shahris-tani, then, drew the beliefs of the Muslim sects from this book, and for this reason slandered their honour in the process.[^3] * * * * * Before concluding the investigation, I must say a word con- cerning the role of the Mu‘tazilah in this area.