The Ash'arite creed is best characterized as a tree whose foundation (trunk) is made up of the usool (foundations of the Mu'tazilah) and whose roots are the roots of the Jahmiyyah, and whose branches, with the help and direction of Ibn Kullaab (d. 240H), are trying to reach out to the Sunnah, but not quite getting there. When we look at the underlying usool of the creed of the Ash'ariyyah and the Mu'tazilah, we find that they are in fact pretty much united and only dispute on subsidiary issues. In this series of articles we will demonstrate and prove that this is the case inshaa'Allaah.