—as though he had shaken hands with Allah and kissed His right hand.” They supposed that this and similar expressions require reinterpretation. Yet this is a mistake on their part—even if this wording were authentically established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

This wording explicitly indicates that the Stone is not one of Allah’s attributes, for it says:

“It is Allah’s right hand on earth.”

The qualification “on earth” indicates that it is not His hand without qualification, and therefore is not His actual hand. Likewise, the statement:

“Whoever shakes hands with it and kisses it is as though he had shaken hands with Allah and kissed His right hand”

explicitly indicates that whoever shakes hands with it and kisses it is not shaking hands with Allah or kissing His right hand. The thing compared is not the thing to which it is compared. Moreover, the expression “as though” explicitly conveys a comparison. Since the wording explicitly indicates that the Stone has been assigned the position of the right hand, not that it is the right hand itself, anyone who claims that its apparent meaning is that it is the actual right hand is uttering a manifest falsehood.

All of this assumes that the Throne is spherical, whether it is the ninth celestial sphere or something other than the ninth sphere. It has become clear that its surface is the roof of creation and that it is above creation on every side; that nothing in the heavens or the earth can be above it; and that, on this assumption, whoever directs himself towards what is above the Throne directs himself only upwards. Neither natural disposition nor revealed law allows him, when his intention is fully directed towards that, to turn towards any other of the six directions around him. Indeed, he also faces Him, although He is above him, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, illustrated through the example of the moon—and to Allah belongs the highest example. He explained that if such a thing is possible with the moon, which is one of the signs of Allah Most High, then the Creator is higher and greater.

But if it is assumed that the Throne is not spherical, but rather is above the world on