to achieve the notoriety he desires, even at the expense of attacking the sunnah and its adherents. It is astonishing that he pretends to be a Sufi, while the Sufis are contrary to him; for their doctrine is one of obscurity, not prominence. One of their early figures even said, "Be a tail and not a head!" Furthermore, he holds a deviant creed, with Muʿtazilī inclinations, denying the divine attributes and accusing the believers in them, among the imams and their followers—including myself, all praise is due to Allāh—in his annotations that he has filled with falsehoods on Ibn al-Jawzī's book "Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh." He fabricates various lies against them, which if fully explored would fill a book in a volume; for example, he claims on page 114 of his annotations: "The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Khuzaymah regretted authoring his book 'al-Tawḥīd' eventually, as reported by the ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī in 'al-Asmāʾ wa-al-Ṣifāt' (p. 267)." This is a double falsehood; for Ibn Khuzaymah never regretted at all, and al-Bayhaqī did not attribute that to him. How could it be conceivable that the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Khuzaymah would regret his 'Tawḥīd,' which is pure faith?! Indeed, how could it be conceivable that the ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī would report such a thing?! Glory be to You, this is a great slander from a sinful fabricator. And you, dear reader! If you refer to the mentioned page of "al-Asmāʾ wa-al-Ṣifāt," you will not find the alleged regret, but rather Ibn Khuzaymah's admission that he is not skilled in the science of kalām, in a story narrated by al-Bayhaqī if it is authentic; for I do not know Abū al-Faḍl al-Baṭāyinī, nor did al-Samʿānī mention him in this context; Allāh knows best about him. Nevertheless, I say: the mentioned admission from Ibn Khuzaymah—if it is authentic—does not disgrace him as..