in a manner befitting Allah Most High; and it may be that what is intended is not an attribute (1) of Allah at all, and the like. This is the way followed by many jurists and others.

Another group (2) keeps entirely silent on the matter, confining themselves to the recitation of the Quran and the reading of hadith, turning away—both in heart and in speech—from such conjectural explanations.

Thus, no one can avoid falling into one of these six categories.

With respect to many of the verses and hadiths dealing with the divine attributes, the correct stance is to decide categorically in favour of the second approach (3)—for example, the passages that affirm that He, exalted is He, is above His Throne [ق 37]. The sound method for arriving at the truth of this and similar issues rests upon the evidences of the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus, proofs so clear that they admit no (4) opposing possibility; in other texts that meaning merely outweighs the alternative, though the contrary remains theoretically possible.

A believer’s degree of hesitation in such matters corresponds to the measure of knowledge and faith Allah grants him: “And for whomever Allah has not appointed light, for him there is no light” (Quran 24:40).

Whoever finds this—or anything else—confusing should pray with the supplication recorded by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ (5) from ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—who said: Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood to pray at night, he would say: