To whom it may concern from amongst our website visitors, participants, followers, and the generality of the Muslims:

We recently tried to commit intellectual fraud by attempting to argue for a difference between certain attributes which we presume to be nothing but limbs and parts (following the Jahmiyyah in that) and others which we do not consider as such as it relates to Allaah the Most High. This was in the form of an article which we published and distributed to the generality of the Muslims.

Our argument is summarized essentially as:

• The likes of wajh (face), yad (hand), eye (ayn) are closer to being limbs than the other attributes such as life (hayaat), will (iraadah), knowledge (ilm), power (qudrah) - and according to the people of language the former are not defined as anything but limbs (a'daa).

• And built upon the above, that it is deception to claim that these are classed as attributes (sifaat) and that it is deception to claim they are attributes of Allaah's essence (sifaat dhaatiyyah), just like knowledge (ilm), will (iraadah), power (qudrah) are classed as attributes.

Then those good old folks at Asharis.Com stopped us dead in our tracks and informed us of the errors of our ways even though we tried our very best to be as sly and cunning as possible by:

• Never once mentioning hearing (sam') and seeing (basr), two of the seven attributes we affirm - which are also not found in the creation except as limbs, so we thought by not mentioning these attributes in our article, we could make our case look more convincing and less contradictory, and thus, convincing those "dumb commoners" would be an easy steal.

• Never once mentioning the fact that the entirety of the Salaf are in opposition to our claim and that there is an abundance of statements from them that render our claim an academic and intellectual fraud, and that there isn't anyone who agrees with us in this claim prior to 400H except the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah.

• Never once mentioning that the early Kullaabi Ash'aris are also in opposition to our claim for they affirmed these attributes as sifaat dhaatiyyah and at the same time refuted the ta'weels of the Jahmiyyah and rebutted their accusations of Tajseem.

Those folks were kind enough to provide all the evidence that stopped us dead in our tracks, and which included:

• The Ijmaa' of the Imaams of the Salaf quoted by Imaam at-Tirmidhi (d. 279H) in his Sunan in which he clarified that the presumption of Tajseem and tashbeeh was made by the Jahmiyyah (whom we today are following) and he gave three examples of the sifaat dhaatiyyah, mentioning hand (yad), sam' (hearing) and basr (seeing). So this exposes our claim as intellectual fraud.

• Then a very powerful, far-reaching, hard-hitting, Jahmee-busting quote from al-Qadi Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403H), one of the early Kullaabi Ash'aris - and he affirmed that face (wajh), hands (yadaan) and eyes (aynaan) are from the sifaat dhaatiyyah and he demolished the ta'weels of the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah of hand (yad) to power and favour (qudrah, ni'mah) and he also demolished the presumption and accusation of Tajseem in powerful words to which there is absolutely no answer. It is here that our heads slumped towards the ground, debased and humiliated, and fraud exposed.

• A powerful quote from Abu Uthman as-Saaboonee (d. 449H) - one whom we fraudulently claim is a Jahmite Ash'ari like us - and as-Saaboonee explicitly affirms those aforementioned attributes such as face (wajh), eye (ayn), hand (yad) and the likes to be "sifaat" for Allaah - and he also demolishes the ta'weels of the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazliah of the attribute of yad (hand) to qudrah and ni'mah (power, favor). And our heads slumped further to the ground - debased and despised.

• A powerful quote from Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (d. 458H) who is one of our very own scholars who is from the Ash'aris, and he has a whole chapter on this topic in his book "al-I'tiqaad" which he titled, "Chapter: A Mention of the Verses and Narrations Reported Regarding the Affirmation of the Attribute (Sifah) of Face, Two Hands and Eye". And he demolished the ta'weels of the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah and affirmed they are attributes (sifaat) of Allaah's essence (dhaat). And our heads slumped further to the ground, debased and held in contempt.

• And then a very powerful quote from Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463H) who nailed us good and proper by saying:
  فإذا قلنا: لله تعالى يد، وسمع، وبصر؛ فإنما هي صفات أثبتها الله تعالى لنفسه، ولا نقول: إن معنى اليد القدرة، ولا إن معنى السمع والبصر العلم، ولا نقول: إنها جوارح، ولا نشبهها بالأيدي والأسماع والأبصار التي هي جوارح وأدوات للفعل، ونقول: إنما وجب إثباتها لأن التوقيف ورد بها، ووجب نفي التشبيه عنها
  So when we say: Allaah has a hand, hearing and seeing, then these are attributes which Allaah the Exalted has affirmed for Himself and we do not say: The meaning of hand is 'power' and nor do we say: The meaning of hearing and seeing is 'knowledge'. And nor do we say: They are limbs and instruments for action. And we do not resemble them with [those] hands, [and faculties of] hearing and sight which are the limbs and the instruments of action [in created beings]. And we say: Affirming them is obligatory because at-Tawqeef (the texts of the Qur'aan and the Sunnah) have reported them and it is obligatory to negate tashbeeh (resemblance) from them...

  So he equated between yad (hand), sam' (hearing), seeing (basr) and treated them all the same in that in the creation their kaifiyyah is not except as limbs. And that affirming them for Allaah is obligatory alongside negating tashbeeh from them. So he did not distinguish between them, and treated hearing (sam') and seeing (basr), as found in the creation, also as limbs, just like hands. And this is why we tried to be very cunning and sly by not mentioning these attributes of hearing and seeing (which we do affirm) in our article so as not to alert the readers to our contradiction and fraud. And so our heads slumped further to the ground, debased, despised and rejected.

So with all of this we ended up being subdued, and thus there is no option for us except to repent to Allaah, fearing the day on which neither wealth nor offspring will be of any avail.

So we say:

• We turn to Allaah in repentance and seek His forgiveness for trying to defraud innocent and ill-informed and less-knowledgeable Muslims by uttering lies and inventing falsehoods.

• We affirm, and announce and declare openly, at the tops of our voices, that the Salaf in their entirety and the early Kullaabi Ash'aris did not distinguish between the likes of face (wajh), yad (hand), eye (ayn) from the other attributes like hearing (sam'), seeing (basr), qudrah (power), life (hayaat), will (iraadah), knowledge (ilm), speech (Kalaam) - they treated all of them to be sifaat dhaatiyyah. And anyone who claims otherwise is a liar and may Allaah's curse be upon the liars.

• We acknowledge that we are trying to push the same views as the very Jahmiyyah whom the Salaf and the early Kullaabi Ash'aris (like al-Baqillani, d. 403H) specifically refuted:

  a) For their presumption that affirming these attributes amounts to Tajseem, and that the likes of face, hands and eyes, are not understood except to be limbs, and their accusation of Tajseem against the affirmers of these attributes.

  b) For their false ta'weels by which they intended to reject these attributes as being attributes of Allaah's Essence (sifaat dhaatiyyah), such as hand (yad) to power and favour (qudrah, ni'mah).

• And built upon the above, we acknowledge that we are not with the early Kullabi Ash'aris, rather we are with the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah on this issue, and guided by them, we speak with their ta'weels and we level the same accusation of Tajseem against the followers of the Salaf that they levelled against the Salaf and against the early Kullaabi Ash'aris.

So with all these acknowledgments and admissions of the truth we say:

O Allaah, we turn to you and beseech you to forgive us for the aforementioned iniquities, that you save us from the mires of tajahhum and that you guide our hearts to find the creed of the early Kullaabi Ash'ari Scholars to be more agreeable than the Jahmee and Mu'tazilee creed of the later Ash'ari Scholars that has led us to into this disgrace, and perhaps through that transition we may come a step closer to adopting the creed of the Salaf wholeheartedly. Ameen.

The steps we will take to prove this is a true tawbah is to remove the offending article, and to publish this signed repentance on our website and distribute it as much as we distributed the original attempted fraud.

Signed: _______________________ Date: ___________

Signed: _______________________ Date: ___________

Signed: _______________________ Date: ___________

Signed: _______________________ Date: ___________

In the presence of:

Witness 1: ________________________________

Witness 2: ________________________________