Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

من قال:‏ فالن مشبه علمنا أنه جهمي،‏ ومن قال:‏ فالن مجبر علمنا أنه قدري،‏ ومن قال:‏ فالن ناصبي علمنا
أنه رافضي
If someone says that so and so is a Mushabbih (anthropomorphist) we will
know that he is a Jahmī. And whoever says that so and so is a Mujabbir
(determinist) we will know that he is a Qadarī (a disputer regarding predestiny).
And whoever says that so and so is a Nāṣibī we will know that he
is a Rāfiḍī. 1
Thereafter, al-Dhuhalī 2 who passed away in 258 A.H. and Abū Zurʿah who
passed away in 264 A.H. used this term but in a way that does not denote any
condemnation from their side. Hence al-Dhuhalī says:
لتسألوه ‏)يعني البخاري(‏ عن شيء من الكالم،‏ فإنه إن أجاب بخالف ما نحن عليه وقع بيننا وبينه،‏ وشمت
بنا كل ناصبي ورافضي
Do not ask him (i.e. al-Bukhārī) anything regarding the speech of Allah; for
if he answers with an answer which is against what we believe a dispute
will ensue between us and him, whereafter every Nāṣibī and Rāfiḍī will
rejoice at out dispute. 3
And Abū Zurʿah says:
1 Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah 1/147. Similar reports are report from the two Rāzīs
Abū Zurʿah and Abū Ḥātim in the same book (1/167). Also see: al-Barbihārī: Sharḥ al-Sunnah p. 52. For
the implementation of this principle refer to Lisān al-Mīzān 5/268.
2 Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khālid al-Dhuhalī (their client), Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-
Nīsābūrī. One of the great scholars and analyses of ḥadīth. He was born sometime after 170 A.H. He
became famous for collecting the knowledge of al-Zuhrī and perfecting it till he became known as
al-Zuhrī. A dispute had broken out between him and al-Bukhārī due to the issue of the enunciation
of the word of the Qurʾān. He passed away in 258 A.H. His narrations are reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
and the four Sunan. Jamʿ ḥadīth al-Zuhrī is one of his books. See: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 12/273; Tadhkirah
al-Ḥuffāẓ 2/530; Lisān al-Mīzān 7/507; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 9/452.
3 Muqaddamah Fatḥ al-Bārī 1/490; Taghlīq al-Taʿlīq 5/431.
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