A discussion regarding the report that whoever does not say: "Allah created Adam in the image of the Most Merciful" is a Jahmi.

The questioner : ... regarding the creation of Adam in His image, so he said: It is only in the image of Adam, and it is not in the image of the Most Merciful. Zakariyya said: So I said to Abd al-Wahhab after that: What do you say about Abu Thawr? He said: I do not judge in this except by the statement of Ahmad ibn Hanbal; Abu Thawr and whoever holds his view are to be boycotted. Zakariyya said: And I said to Abd al-Wahhab another time—and some people had spoken about this issue—: Allah created Adam in His image. He said: Whoever does not say: "Allah created Adam in the image of the Most Merciful" is a Jahmi. This is the book of the author of the opinion, transmitting statements to the effect that whoever does not hold this view is a Jahmi—from Imam Ahmad.

The Shaykh : We are not followers of scholars without evidence, and praise be to Allah, we are enemies of the Jahmiyyah; but we are not followers of scholars without evidence. What is the evidence that whoever says a statement that agrees with the Jahmiyyah becomes a Jahmi? This is one point, and the other is: What is the evidence for the validity of the claim that the pronoun refers to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)? Especially after we mentioned what we mentioned just now; these are statements like many jurisprudential statements that are left to their speaker; and it is not permissible for us to argue with them, especially if their necessary implication is striking the authentic Sunnah. So we say, for example: If the one who adopts this view, or let us say something else: If the one who said this view were present, or if the one who adopts this view were among those who came after him: What do you say about the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in "Sahih al-Bukhari": ? Do we take the hadith and leave the statement that accuses its holder of being a Jahmi, or do we not care about these statements because they emerged as independent legal reasoning? We must follow the Sunnah and follow the hadith; whether that is in creed or in rulings.
Please proceed.