أهل الأهواء

أهل الأهواء

Ahl al-ahwa are those whose opinions deviate: the word hawa is the soul's inclination against what the law requires; they are Muslims who have strayed from the middle path, such as the Jabriyya, the Qadariyya, the Mu'attila and the Mushabbiha. ¹ They differ from the atheists and materialists, since they remain Muslims who believe in God and His Prophet. ¹ One must shun whoever openly professes his innovation or calls to it; if the innovation is one that makes a person an unbeliever, he receives the rules of an apostate, and otherwise the caller to it may be punished with discretionary penalties. ²³ Their testimony is accepted by the Hanafis and Shafi'is except the Khattabiyya, and rejected by Malik and Ahmad, with disputes in the reports. Some jurists forbid narrating from their callers, and the prayer behind them is valid with dislike for the Hanafis and Shafi'is. ³⁴⁵