Abdurrahmān mentioned saying, Muhammad bin Ahmad bin ‘Amr bin ‘Īsā narrated to us saying, ‘Alī bin Mūsā al Basrī narrated to us saying, Sulaymān bin ‘Īsā ash Shajarī narrated to us saying, Sahl al Hanafī narrated to us on the authority of Muqātil bin Hayyān (d. 149H) who said:
“I came to ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul’Azīz, so he said to me “Where are you from?” so I said “From the people of Balkh.” He then said “What is the distance between you & the river?” I said: “Such-and-such distance [farsakhan]”. He said “Has there appeared from behind the river a man who is called ‘Jahm’?” I said “No.” He said “There will appear behind the river a man called ‘Jahm’. He will cause destruction to people from this Ummah. Allah will enter him & them into hellfire along with those who shall enter it.” [1]
JAHM BIN SAFWĀN
Of possible Persian descent, he was born in Kūfa, but settled down in Khurasān in Tirmidh. He learned under al-Ja’d bin Dirham, a theologian from Harrān in Syria. Al Ja’d bin Dirham was a teacher of the last Umayyad ruler, Marwān II, and is described as a Dahrī (atheist) and Zindīq (Heretic).
He was the first person reported to have spoken about the “createdness” of the Qur’ān and reject Abraham’s friendship with God and His Speaking to Moses, which are beliefs that he took from the Sabeans.
The name of Jahm b. Ṣafwān would later be ascribed – possibly spuriously – to the theological movement known as the Jahmiyyah.
Jahm bin Ṣafwān was heavily criticized by scholars for his theological teachings.
Many Hadīth scholars wrote refutations of Jahm bin Ṣafwān’s doctrines, particularly Imām Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his son ‘Abdillāh, and Imām al Dārimī. The latter also wrote a large refutation of a prominent Jahmī by the name of Bishr bin Ghiyāth al Mirrīsī wherein he declared him a Kāfir (an unbeliever). [2]
THE ROOTS OF THEIR IDEOLOGY
Al Bukhārī said in “Khalq Af’āl il ‘Ibād”📚 (p.9):
Damurah said: From Ibn Shawdhab: Al Jahm abandoned the prayer for forty days due to doubt. He argued with some of the Sumaniyyah, became doubtful and spent forty days without praying.
Khalid al Qasri was in Wasit during the day of Eid and he said: go and sacrifice, may Allah accept it, for verily I will be sacrificing Al Ja’d bin Dirham, he claimed that Allah didn’t take Ibrahim as a Khalil and that he didn’t speak to Musa, exalted is He high above what Al Ja’d bin Dirham says, so he got down and slaughtered him.
Qutayba said: I heard that Jahm learned Kalam (theological rhetoric) from Al Ja’d bin Dirham. [3]
JAHM’S DEBATES WITH THE SUMANIYYAH
Imām Ahmad (d. 241H) said in “ar Radd alal Jahmiyyah”📚 (page 93
onwards):
So, from what has reached us of the affair of Al-Jahm, the enemy of Allah, is that he was from the people of Khorasān, from the people of Tirmidh, and he was a person of much disputation and theological rhetoric (Kalām), and most of his theological rhetoric was regarding Allah…
So, he met a people amongst the disbelievers called the Sumaniyyah. So, they came to know Jahm and they said to him: “We will argue with you and if our proof overcomes you, you will enter our religion, and if your proof overcomes us, we will enter your religion”.
So, from the things that they spoke to Jahm about was that they said to him: “Do you not claim that you have an ilaah (deity)?” So, the Jahmī (i.e. alJ ahm) said, “Yes”. So, they said, “Have you seen your deity directly?” He said, “No.” They said, “Have you heard His speech?” He said, “No.” They said, “Have you smelt any fragrance of His?” He said, “No.” They said, “Have you been able to touch Him?” He said, “No.” They said, “Have you perceived him with any senses?” He said, “No.” They said to him: “So you don’t know that he is a deity?”
So Jahm became bewildered, and did not know what he was worshipping for forty days.
Then he redressed [this defeat by devising] a proof similar to the heretics of the Christians. The heretics of the Christians claim that the spirit that is within ‘Īsā (the son of Maryam) is the spirit (Rūh) of Allah, from Allah’s Essence. So, when He (Allah) wants to bring about something, He enters into some of His creation and speaks upon the tongue of that (created person), and thus He commands with whatever He wills and forbids with whatever He wills. But is a spirit that is absent from (the people’s) vision.
So Jahm devised a proof just like this one and so he said to the Sumaniyy: “Do you not claim that there is a spirit (i.e. soul) within you?” He said, “Yes.” He (Jahm) said: “Have you seen your spirit?” He said, “No.” He said: “Have you heard its speech?” He said, “No.” He said: “Have you perceived it with the senses or been able to touch it?” He said, “No.” So, he (Jahm) said: Thus, is Allah, He has no face that can be seen, and no voice that can be heard, and no fragrance that can be smelt, and He is absent from (the people’s) vision, and He is not in any one specific place exclusive to another…”
AND IMĀM AHMAD CONTINUES LATER:
Thus, he instituted the religion of the Jahmis. And when people asked them about the verse, “There is nothing like unto Him…” (42:11), what is its explanation (Tafsir)? They would say: “There is nothing like unto Him…” from amongst the things. And He is beneath the seven earths as He is above the Throne, no place is devoid of Him, and He is not in any one specific place exclusive to another. He has not spoken and does not speak. He has not looked towards anyone in the world, and nor (will He) in the Hereafter. He is not described (with anything). He is not known by any attribute or any action. He has no limit or end (i.e. demarcation). He is not grasped by the intellect. He is the face of all of it (i.e. existence). He is the knowledge of all of it. He is the hearing of all of it. He is the seeing of all of it. He is the light of all of it. He is the power of all of it. He is not two things. He is not described by two different descriptions. He does not have a “highest” and a “lowest”, nor directions or sides, neither a right nor left, and neither is He light or heavy, and He does not have a color, or a body (jism) and nor is He known (ma’loom) or understood (ma’qool). And everything that you (imagine) in your heart which is considered a “thing”, then He is different to it. [4]
[Extracted from “The Jahmiyya and Asharis: Two Sides of The Same Coin”📚 pg 8-9]
[1] [Sharh Usūl I’tiqād Ahlul Sunnah wa-l Jamā’ah📚 (nr. 640) of Al-Lālakā’i]
[2] The Jahmiyya and Asharis: Two Sides of The Same Coin
[3] [Khalq Af’al Al-‘ibaad📚 (p. 30)]
[4] Imām Ahmad (d. 241H) in ar-Radd alal Jahmiyyah📚 (page 93
onwards)