As for the two groups that deny the apparent sense of these passages—by which I mean (1) those who maintain that, in reality, they never denote an attribute of Allah at all, and that Allah possesses no affirmative attributes whatsoever; rather, His attributes are either purely negative, purely relational (2), or a compound of the two; or who concede only a limited set of attributes—seven, eight, or fifteen; or who affirm merely “states” (aḥwāl) instead of attributes, as is well known from the schools of the dialectical theologians (3)—these divide into two sub-groups.

1. One sub-group engages in figurative interpretation and fixes a particular meaning, saying, for example, that istawā means “He took possession” or “He attained exalted rank and status” (4); or that it signifies the manifestation of His light to the Throne; or (6) that all creation ultimately returns to Him—along with other contrived interpretations (7).

2. The other sub-group says, “Allah knows best what He intended by these verses, but we are certain that He did not intend to establish any attribute beyond those we already acknowledge.”

As for the two groups who suspend judgement, one of them says: “It is possible that the apparent meaning is what is intended…”