- Departing from the way of the early generations (salaf).
- Divesting the revealed texts of the meanings they were meant to convey.
- Distorting those texts, forcing them into senses never intended for them.
- Stripping Allah of the attributes of perfection contained in those very texts.
- Falling into self-contradiction between what they choose to affirm and what they choose to deny.
Thus we say to each group with regard to affirmation:
“Affirm what you have been denying while rejecting all anthropomorphism, just as you affirmed what you did affirm while likewise rejecting anthropomorphism.”
And we say to it with regard to negation:
“Negate what you have been affirming for fear of likening Allah to His creation, just as you negated what you did negate for that same fear—otherwise your position is contradictory.”
The decisive, consistent view—free of all contradiction—is the stance of the salaf of this Ummah and its leading imams: to affirm, without likening, every name and attribute that Allah has affirmed for Himself; to declare Him transcendent, without nullifying those attributes; and to keep the scriptural texts upon their apparent meaning in a manner befitting Allah—without distortion, suspension, describing the how, or drawing comparisons.
This will be made clear through two foundational principles, two illustrative examples, and a conclusion.