al Imām as Shātibī al Mālikī, Abū Ishāq Ibrāhim ibn Mūsā (d.790h) رحمه الله stated,

“The people of bid’ah are labeled ‘the people of desires’ because they follow their desires.

Due to this fact, they do not adopt the proofs from the Shari’ah as the point reference and what is essential [to be relied upon] so as to make the Shari’ah proof as their basis.

Rather, they give precedence to their desires, rely upon their opinions, and as a result, analyze the Shari’ah proofs through their the lense of their desires.

The majority of these people are those who were of the opinion that good and bad is solely arrived at by way of the intellect and those who had a fondness for the philosophers and others.

Consequently, they reject numerous authentic hadith by way of their intellects and have ill assumptions with what is authentically narrated from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, yet have positive assumptions about their own corrupted intellects.

To such an extent that they reject many of the affairs of the afterlife and certain aspects related to it like the bridge (to Paradise) [as Sirāt], the scale (by which a person’s actions are weighed)[al Mizān], the resurrection and gathering of people’s physical bodies, and the physical reward or punishment which actually happens to the body. They also reject (the believers seeing Allah in the hereafter) and other similar issues.

Instead, they make the intellect the legislator regardless if a particular issue is actually backed by Shari’ah proofs or not.

Similarly, if there is Shari’ah proof substantiating their position, they use it as a something which strengthens what has been actually legislated by the intellect [i.e. the ibtellect is the ultimate reference point]…as well as other despicable postions they hold.”

[al ‘Itisām, v.2, pg. 179]