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Early and Modern Day Asharis, Is there a Difference?
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This is an informative section which highlight the relaity of the underyling khilaaf that exist among Ashari Imaams and how the asha'irah jadeeda (modern day asharis) are very much in opposition to thee former asharis, which is one reason why the earlier ulema have deemed asharis to be within ahlu-sunnah, but in this current age the Ulema of ahlu-sunnah have not viewed them to be from ahlu-sunnah.
 
It also shows the real matter that seperated theoriginal asharis from those who came later was Ibnu-Juwainee,  which really put to question "Was al-Baqilanee an ashari" as the way todays ashari conceive
 
 
Here is what has been narrated regarding the early Asharis
 
ibn tamiyyah (rahimullah) made a distinction between the asharis, the early followers and the latter ones.

Imaam Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah al-Hanbali, rahimahullah, said:

"al-Ash'ari and the leaders among his followers, such as Abu'l-Hasan al-Tabari, Abu Abdallah b. Mujahid al-Bahili, Qadi Abu Bakr [al-Baqillani], are agreed on affirming the Attributes of Traditions (sifat al-khabariyyah) cited in the Qur'an, such as al-Istiwa' 'ala'l-'Arsh, al-Wajh, al-Yad, and they are agreed on the invalidation of interpreting them metaphorically,"

and ibn tamiyyah (rahimullah) said:

"However, al-Ash'ari's followers have two contradictory views on the Sifat al-Khabariyyah. The first well-known follower among them to deny these Attributes is Abu'l-Ma'ali al-Juwayni, for he denied the Traditional Attributes, and has two contradictory views regarding their metaphorical interpretation. In al-Irshad he interpreted them, then in al-Risalah al-Nizamiyyah he went back on his doctrine and prohibited metaphorical interpretation, and made clear the consensus of the Salaf on the prohibition of metaphorical interpretation, and used as proof that it is prohibited, that it is not obligatory or permitted. Thus those who followed his doctrine began to deny the Sifat al-Khabariyyah, and have two contradictory views regarding their metaphorical interpretation."

and here is what the imaam al-Baqillani said in his tamhid and hafidh dhahabi confirms this from another work of him:

"Likewise, Our saying in all that has been reported on the authority of the Messenger of God, peace upon him, concerning the Attributes of God - if its is authentic - from the affirmation of Two Hands, the Face and Two Eyes (al-yadayn wa'l-wajh wa'l-'aynayn); and I say that he comes on the Day of Resurrection in the shadows of the clouds, and that He descends to the lowest heaven - like its in the Hadith - and that He's rosen over the Throne"

Abu Hasan al-Mahdi says and its quoted in adh-Dhahabi's al-uluww:

"Know that Allah is fi'l-sama, above everything, upon His Throne with the meaning that He's rosen over it.."

this continued with other asharites such as ibn furak, al-baqillani, al-bayhaqi, and al-qushayri who affirmed the sifat al-dhat without any tawil and tahrif.

Abu'l-Qasim Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri said:

“We do not call Allah, ‘azza wa-jall, by any name by which He has not named Himself. And we believe in what has been mentioned in describing Him from all the adjectives and nouns. And we follow the successful way in what is found in the Book, the Sunnah and the Consensus of the Community. We do not follow in case of naming [Him] what is appropriate for Him just on the basis of proofs from reason or from the standpoint of the Arabic language

then when ibn al-juwayni emerged and introduced the concepts of tawil known amongst the later-day asharites and spread across the lands, the scholars made then a difference between the early asharites and the later-day asharites. they named the latter asharites: al-ashariyyin al-muta'akkhirin or later-day asharites. Ibn 'aqil named them al-asha'irah al-'uzzal.

Ibn Rushd said:

"It has been customary for people of [our] Religion to affirm it of Allah the Almighty since the beginning, until the Mu'tazilites denied it. Later on they were followed in this denial by the later-day Ash'arites, like Abu'l-Ma'ali and his followers",

al-Qadi Abu Ya'la, the Hanbalite in his Ibtal al-Ta'wilat li Akhbar al-Sifat said:

"Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari and his followers, such as Abu Bakr b. al-Baqillani, Abu Bakr b. Furak and Abu 'Ali b. Shadhan (d.426) affirm the Attributes. They do not [attempt to] rationalize their meanings and they don't carry them linguistically (i.e. by metaphors) such as [the Attributes] al-Wajh, al-Yadayn and al-'Ayn, and they don't carry al-Wajh meaning 'the essence', and al-Yadayn as 'the two favors' and al-'Ayn as.. Rather they affirm them as Attributes of Essence as the Law came with. And they confirm this in their books"

when the likes of ibn al-juwayni emerged, he said:

"I've seen some of them, i.e. interpreting these Attributes"
 
here is an excerpt by Abu Bakr Ibn al-Baqillani in his "Kitab al-Tamhid fi al-Radd 'ala al-Mulhida al-Mu'attilah wa'l-Rafidah wa'l-Khawarij wa'l-Mu'tazilah - wellknown simply as al-Tamhid. Beirut 1957 edition.

"If the speaker says: What is the Proof that Allah has a Face and Two Hands? Say to him: His saying {And the Face of your Lord endures forever, the Possessor of Jalal and Ikram} and His saying {What stops you from prostrating for the one I've created with My own Hands?} then He affirmed for Himself a Face and Two Hands"

Then al-Baqillani continues, saying:

"And if they say: Why do you reject that the meaing in His saying {created with My own Hands} is that He created Him by His Power or Favour?.."

"We say to them: This is null and void, for His saying {with My own Hands} follows the affirmation of Two Hands which are Attributes to Him. For if the intented meaning should be for them the Power, then it necessiate that He has Two Powers. But you claim that you profess that the Creator has one Power - then how can you permit to affirm for Him Two Powers? And the Muslims have agreed, both the affirmers of the Attributes as the deniars on [the fact] that He can not have for Him Two Powers - thus it is null and void what you've said! And likewise, it is not permitted for Allah that He created Adam by Two Favours, for the Favours of Allah on Adam and for others are not.."

Imam al-Dhahabi quotes the Ash'ari Qadi Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Tayyib al-Basri al-Baqillani, who he describes with the phrase 'none single of the Ash'arite Mutakallimun is better then him' - rahimahullah - from the book:

al-Dabb 'an Abi'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari (In Defense of Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari, may Allah grant him paradise!):

"Likewise, Our saying in all that has been reported on the authority of the Messenger of God, peace upon him, concerning the Attributes of God - if its is authentic - from the affirmation of Two Hands, the Face and Two Eyes (al-yadayn wa'l-wajh wa'l-'aynayn); and I say that he comes on the Day of Resurrection in the shadows of the clouds, and that He descends to the lowest heaven - like its in the Hadith - and that He's rosen over the Throne"

untill he says (these are the words of al-Dhahabi, who continues quoting

"And we've made clear the religion of the Imams of the Ahl al-Sunnah that these Attributes must be taken as they aave come, without how, limits, kind-ness, or form-ness, like it has been transmiited on the authority of al-Zuhri and from Malik on [the issue of] al-Istiwa'; whoever deviate from this, then he opposed, innovated and is astray!"

(Source: al-Dhahabi, al-'Uluww li-'Ali al-Ghaffar p.306; see especially, Oh Salafist and others - may Allah grant you insight - the words of the Hafidh right after this and on p.307)

'Izz al-Din b. Abd al-Salam (d.660), the Ash'arite Shafi'i, affirms the Attributes of Two Eyes - as his great predecessors from the Ash'ari School: Imam Abu'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari and the Qadi Abu Bakr b. al-Baqillani.

He mentioned its affirmation by his fellow Ash'arites of earlier time in two passages of his book on Usul al-Fiqh, known as al-Qawa'id al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam, in the parts on the principals of religion.

وَالْعَجَبُ أَنَّ الْأَشْعَرِيَّةَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِي كَثِيرٍ مِنْ الصِّفَاتِ كَالْقِدَمِ وَالْبَقَاءِ وَالْوَجْهِ وَالْيَدَيْنِ وَالْعَيْنَيْنِ . وَفِي الْأَحْوَالِ كَالْعَالَمِيَّةِ وَالْقَادِرِيَّة

"Its remarkable that the Ash'ariyyah differ in much of the Attributes such as al-Qidam, al-Baqa', al-Wajh, al-Yadayn and al-'Aynayn, and in the states such as the created worlds and the determination.."

And this testifies also that the Ash'arites before believed in these Attributes. He says some passages later,

وَقَدْ اخْتَلَفَ النَّاسُ فِيهِ لِالْتِبَاسِهِ ، وَكَذَلِكَ الْقَوْلُ فِي قِدَمِ كَلَامِهِ وَفِي أَنَّ مَا وَصَفَ بِهِ نَفْسَهُ مِنْ الْوَجْهِ وَالْيَدَيْنِ وَالْعَيْنَيْنِ صِفَاتٌ مَعْنَوِيَّةٌ قَائِمَةٌ بِذَاتِهِ أَوْ هِيَ مُتَأَوَّلَةٌ بِمَا يَرْجِعُ إلَى الصِّفَاتِ فَيُعَبِّرُ بِالْوَجْهِ عَنْ الذَّاتِ ، وَبِالْيَدَيْنِ عَنْ الْقُدْرَةِ ، وَبِالْعَيْنَيْنِ عَنْ الْعِلْمِ

"..and the people have differed on Him in His ascriptions, and likewise in the saying on the eternity of His Speech and in that what has been ascribed to His Self from the Face, the Two Hands and the Two Eyes (min al-wajh wa'l-yadayn wa'l-'aynayn), [as] His Attributes of Meanings (sifatu ma'nawiyyah) everlasting with His Essence or it is an interpretation that turns to the Atributes so they measure by al-Wajh the Essence, by al-Yadayn the Power, and by al-'Aynayn the Knowledge"

what was stated above is a clear denialment of current day "ashari deduction" or interpretation regarding These ayaah which clearly shows a rift between early and later day asharis

.