The phrase “An attribute I have known from Akhzam” is an old Arab proverb that is based on a true story of a man named Akhzam who was disobedient and rebellious to his father. Later when Akhzam passed away, his children increased in harshness and disobedience to their grandfather, surpassing Akhzam himself. Until one day they beat their own grandfather, the grandfather then replied by saying:

Indeed my children have imbrued me (with my own) nlood. An attribute I have known from Akhzam.

Meaning, that what they were doing was not something new for the grandfather, rather it was an attribute inherited from the deceased Akhzam.

The Scholars use this famous proverb to illustrate to us that the Hizbis have not brought something new with them, rather speaking ill of the Salafis is something the people of innovation and Hizbiyyah of old would practice.

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī mentioned: A sign of the people of innovation is their battling against the people of narrations (Ahl al-Athar).

Translated by Shaykh Munīb al-Ṣumālī