Bahr ibn Nasr narrated to us: Asad narrated to us: Hushaym narrated to us, from Abū Bishr, from Mujāhid, who said:

“Between the angels and the Throne are seventy veils of light, a veil of darkness, a veil of light, and a veil of darkness.”

Abū Bakr said: I have not included disconnected reports in this book, because this belongs to the category of matters of which we say: knowledge of them can be attained only through Allah’s Book and the Sunnah of His chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Concerning any attribute of my Creator, Mighty and Majestic, I rely only on what is recorded in the Book or transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through sound, established chains of transmission.

I say—and Allah alone grants me success, and from Him alone I seek guidance: Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has made clear in His definitive revelation, recorded between the two covers, that He has a Face, which He has described as possessing majesty and honour and as remaining forever. He, Exalted and Most High, said:

“And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour.” [al-Rahmān: 27]

Our Lord, Exalted and Most High, excluded His Face from perishing when He said:

“Everything will perish except His Face.” [al-Qasas: 88]

Some ignorant Jahmiyyah claim that in this verse Allah, Mighty and Majestic, described only Himself, to whom He attributed majesty in His words:

“Blessed is the name of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour.” [al-Rahmān: 78]

They claim that it is the Lord who possesses majesty and honour, not the Face.

Abū Bakr said: I say—and Allah alone grants me success: this is a claim made by someone ignorant of the Arabic language ⦗52⦘, for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:

“And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour.” [al-Rahmān: 27]

Here, the word “Face” bears a dammah and is in the nominative case, whereas the b in “Lord” bears a kasrah, placing it in the genitive because “Face” is annexed to it. If His words,

“Owner of Majesty and Honour,” [al-Rahmān: 27]

referred back to “Lord” in this passage, the reading would be dhī al-jalāli wa-l-ikrām, in the genitive, just as the b in the word “Lord,” Exalted and Most High, is in the genitive. Have you not heard His words, Blessed and Most High:

“Blessed is the name of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour”? [al-Rahmān: 78]

Since majesty and honour in this verse describe the Lord, dhī is in the genitive, matching the genitive ending of the b in His words:

“Your Lord.” [al-Rahmān: 78]

But since “Face” in the other verse is nominative, the expression describing the Face is also nominative. Thus He said:

“Owner of Majesty and Honour”—dhū al-jalāli wa-l-ikrām. [al-Rahmān: 27]

Understand this explanation, people of understanding, for it is clear in Arabic speech. Do not engage in sophistry and thereby abandon the straight path. These two verses indicate that Allah’s Face is one of His attributes—an attribute of His Essence—not that Allah’s Face is Allah, nor that His Face is other than Him, as the Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes claim. For if Allah’s Face were Allah, the reading would be: wa-yabqā wajhu rabbiki dhī al-jalāli wa-l-ikrām—“And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour,” with dhī in the genitive. What business has someone who does not understand even this much Arabic writing books against the scholars of transmitted reports, who uphold their Lord’s Book and their Prophet’s Sunnah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace? ⦗53⦘

The Jahmiyyah—may Allah’s curses be upon them—claim that the people of the Sunnah and the followers of transmitted reports, who uphold their Lord’s Book and their Prophet’s Sunnah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, liken Allah to His creation. Yet these people affirm for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, only those attributes with which He described Himself in His definitive revelation, recorded between the two covers, and through the words of His chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, transmitted by upright narrators from upright narrators through an uninterrupted chain reaching him. The Jahmiyyah make this claim out of ignorance of our Lord’s Book and our Prophet’s Sunnah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and their scant knowledge of the language of the Arabs, in whose language we have been addressed.

We have already cited sufficient evidence from the Book and Sunnah concerning our Lord’s Face. We shall explain it further. Listen now, people of reason, to what we shall mention concerning ordinary Arabic usage: does the designation “those who liken Allah to His creation” apply to the people of transmitted reports and the followers of the Sunnah?

We say—and so do all our scholars in every land—that the One we worship, Mighty and Majestic, has a Face, as Allah informed us in His definitive revelation. He described it as possessing majesty and honour, declared that it would remain, and excluded it from perishing. We say that our Lord’s Face, Mighty and Majestic, possesses such light, radiance and splendour that, were He to remove His veil, the splendours of His Face would burn everything His sight reaches. He is veiled from the eyes of the people of this world: no human being sees Him while remaining in this fleeting world. We say that the Face of our beginningless Lord will remain forever; He excluded it from destruction and extinction. ⦗54⦘

We say that the children of Adam have faces for which Allah has decreed destruction and to which He has not attributed majesty and honour. They are not described as possessing the light, radiance and splendour with which Allah described His Face. The faces of the children of Adam are seen by the people of this world without burning so much as a single hair, let alone anything greater, because they lack the splendours that our chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, affirmed for our Creator’s Face.

We say that the faces of the children of Adam came into being and are created. They did not exist, and Allah brought them into being after they had not been created; He caused them to exist after they had been nonexistent. All the faces of the children of Adam will perish and will not endure. They will all become lifeless, then decay into dust. Allah will then recreate them after they have decayed. They will undergo resurrection, gathering, standing before their Creator on the Day of Resurrection, and being called to account for what each person’s hands sent ahead and what he earned in this world—experiences whose nature none but the Creator, the Originator, knows. They will then enter either Paradise, enjoying its blessings, or the Fire, suffering its punishment.

People of understanding, could it occur to any rational person, endowed with reason, who understands Arabic, knows its forms of address and understands what likeness means, that this face resembles that Face? Is there here, people of reason, any likening of our Lord’s Face—exalted be His praise, whose description we have explained from the Book and Sunnah—to the faces of the children of Adam that we have mentioned and described? There is nothing beyond their sharing the name “face”: the name “face” is applied to the faces of the children of Adam, just as Allah called His Face a Face.

If ⦗55⦘ this constituted likening on the part of our scholars, then anyone who said that the children of Adam have faces, and that pigs, monkeys, dogs, beasts of prey, donkeys, mules, snakes and scorpions have faces, would thereby have likened human faces to those of pigs, monkeys, dogs and the other creatures I have mentioned.

I do not think that even a Jahmī denier of the attributes who considers himself rational would fail to become angry if the person he esteemed most said to him: “Your face resembles the face of a pig, a monkey, a bear, a dog, a donkey, a mule,” or something similar. For such speech exceeds the bounds of decency in its obscenity, insulting the person whose face is likened to the faces of the creatures we have mentioned. He might even go on to slander that person and his parents.

Nor do I think that any rational person who heard someone likening a human face to the faces of these creatures would fail to accuse him of lying, falsehood and fabrication, or of foolishness and mental derangement, or judge him to have lost his reason and thus no longer be held accountable, because he had likened a human face to the faces of these creatures.

Reflect, people of understanding: are the faces of the creatures we have mentioned more similar to human faces, or is our Creator’s Face more similar to human faces? If the Arabs do not accept likening human faces to those of the beasts we have mentioned, even though the name “face” applies to all their faces just as it applies to human faces, how can it follow that we should be told: “You liken Allah to His creation”?

The faces of the children of Adam and the faces of the beasts of prey and other animals we have mentioned all came into being and are created. Allah has decreed their extinction and destruction. They were nonexistent, and Allah brought them into being, created them and originated them. The faces of all the beasts of prey and other animals we have mentioned have eyes, cheeks, foreheads, noses, tongues, mouths, teeth and lips. ⦗56⦘ Yet no person endowed with reason would say to a human being, “Your face resembles a pig’s face,” “Your eye resembles a monkey’s eye,” “Your mouth is a bear’s mouth,” “Your lips are like a dog’s lips,” or “Your cheek is a wolf’s cheek,” except by way of insult, as when someone accuses a person of something that is not true of him.

Since the matter is as we have described, it is established among rational and discerning people that whoever accuses the people of transmitted reports, who uphold their Lord’s Book and their Prophet’s Sunnah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, of likening Allah to His creation has spoken falsehood, lies, fabrications and slander. He has contradicted the Book and Sunnah and departed from Arabic usage.

The Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes claim that the meaning of the Face Allah mentioned in the verses we have recited from Allah’s Book and in the reports transmitted to us from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is like the Arabs’ expressions wajh al-kalām, “the meaning of speech,” and wajh al-dār, “the front of a house.” In their ignorance, they claim that “Allah’s Face” has the same sense as the Arabic expressions “the meaning of speech,” “the face of a garment,” “the front of a house,” and “the face of a garment.” They claim that faces are attributes of created beings.

This is a disgraceful claim, and it plunges them into the most objectionable form of the very thing they claim to avoid. They should be asked: Are not human speech, garments and houses created? Whoever among you claims that His words,

“Allah’s Face,” [al-Baqarah: 115]

are like the Arabic expressions “the meaning of speech,” “the meaning of speech,” “the face of a garment,” and “the front of a house”—has he not, according to your own principle, likened Allah’s Face to the face of lifeless things? For you claim, ignorant people, that ⦗57⦘ any adherent of the Sunnah and transmitted reports who upholds his Lord’s Book and his Prophet’s Sunnah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and says that Allah has a Face, two Eyes and breath, and that He perceives, sees and hears, has, in your view, likened his Creator to created beings. Allah forbid that any adherent of the Sunnah and transmitted reports should have likened his Creator to any created being! If the matter were as you ignorantly claim, then you would have likened the One you worship to lifeless things.

We affirm for our Creator, Exalted and Most High, the attributes with which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, described Himself in His definitive revelation or through the words of His chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as established through upright narrators transmitting from upright narrators in an uninterrupted chain reaching him. We speak in clear, measured words that every rational person understands. We say: applying the name “Face” to the Creator, the Originator, does not, in the judgement of people of understanding and reason, entail likening the Creator’s Face to the faces of the children of Adam.

Allah, Exalted and Most High, informed us in the verses we recited earlier that He has a Face, which He described as possessing majesty and honour and excluded from perishing. He informed us in His definitive revelation that He hears and sees. He, Exalted and Most High, said to Moses, to whom He spoke, and to his brother Aaron, may Allah’s blessings be upon them both:

“Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see.” [Tā Hā: 46]

That which neither hears nor sees is like the idols, which are lifeless things. Have you not heard Allah’s intimate friend, may Allah’s blessings be upon him, address his father:

“O my father, why do you worship that which neither hears nor sees and cannot benefit you at all?” [Maryam: 42]

People of understanding, does not anyone ⦗58⦘ who understands this message from Allah, Blessed and Most High, realise that Allah’s intimate friend, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would not rebuke his father for worshipping something that neither hears nor sees, and then call him to worship One who neither hears nor sees? Had Allah’s intimate friend, may Allah’s blessings be upon him, said to his father, “I call you to my Lord, who neither hears nor sees,” his father could fittingly have replied, “Then what is the difference between the one you worship and the one I worship?”

Allah has affirmed of Himself that He hears and sees. Yet the Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes reject every attribute with which Allah, Exalted and Most High, described Himself in His definitive revelation or through the words of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, because of their ignorance. He, Mighty and Majestic, said:

“Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god? Would you then be responsible for him? Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle—rather, they are further astray.” [al-Furqān: 44]

Allah, Mighty and Majestic, thus made known that those who neither hear nor understand are like cattle; indeed, they are further astray. The deity of the Jahmiyyah—may Allah’s curses be upon them—is therefore like cattle that neither hear nor see. Allah has affirmed of Himself that He hears and sees, whereas the Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes reject every attribute with which Allah described Himself in His definitive revelation or through the words of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, because of their ignorance.

This is because they found in the Quran that Allah applied some of the names of His attributes to some of His creation. In their ignorance, they imagined that whoever described Allah with an attribute with which Allah described ⦗59⦘ Himself had thereby likened Him to His creation. Listen, people of understanding, as I explain the ignorance of these deniers of the attributes.

I say: I have found that Allah described Himself in more than one passage of His Book, informing His believing servants that He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. He said:

“And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” [al-Shūrā: 11]

He, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned man and said:

“And We made him hearing and seeing.” [al-Insān: 2]

He, Exalted and Most High, informed us that He sees, saying:

“And say, ‘Work, for Allah will see your deeds, and so will His Messenger and the believers.’” [al-Tawbah: 105]

He said to Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them both:

“Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see.” [Tā Hā: 46]

He, Mighty and Majestic, thus informed us that He sees the deeds of the children of Adam and that His Messenger, who is a human being, also sees their deeds. He said:

“Do they not see the birds held aloft in the sky?” [al-Nahl: 79]

The children of Adam also see the birds held aloft in the sky. He, Mighty and Majestic, said:

“And construct the ship under Our Eyes.” [Hūd: 37]

He said:

“Sailing under Our Eyes.” [al-Qamar: 14]

And He said:

“And be patient with your Lord’s judgement, for you are under Our Eyes.” [al-Tūr: 48]

Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, thus affirmed an Eye for Himself, and He affirmed eyes for the children of Adam, saying:

“You see their eyes overflowing with ⦗60⦘ tears.” [al-Mā’idah: 83]

Our Lord has informed us that He has an Eye, and He has informed us that the children of Adam have eyes. He said to Iblīs, may Allah’s curse be upon him:

“What prevented you from prostrating to the one I created with My two Hands?” [Sād: 75]

He said:

“Rather, both His Hands are outstretched; He spends however He wills.” [al-Mā’idah: 64]

And He said:

“The whole earth will be in His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His Right Hand.” [al-Zumar: 67]

Our Lord, Exalted and Most High, thus affirmed two Hands for Himself, and He informed us that the children of Adam have two hands, saying:

“That is for what your hands have sent ahead.” [Āl ‘Imrān: 182]

He said:

“That is for what your two hands have sent ahead.” [al-Hajj: 10]

And He said:

“Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you are only pledging allegiance to Allah. Allah’s Hand is above their hands.” [al-Fath: 10]

He said:

“The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.” [Tā Hā: 5]

He informed us that those who ride animals settle upon their backs, and He said of Noah’s ship:

“And it settled upon al-Jūdī.” [Hūd: 44]

People of understanding, must it follow, according to these wicked people, that whoever affirms for Allah what Allah affirms in these verses has likened his Creator to His creation? Allah forbid that this should constitute likening, as they ignorantly claim! ⦗61⦘

We say that Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, as our Creator and Originator informed us. We also say that any human being who possesses hearing and sight is hearing and seeing. We do not say that this constitutes likening the created being to the Creator.

We say that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has two Hands, both right, neither of them left. Allah, Blessed and Most High, informed us that He has two Hands, and our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, informed us that both are right, neither of them left. ⦗62⦘ We say that a human being whose limbs and bodily members are sound has two hands: a right and a left. We do not say that the hands of created beings are like the Creator’s Hand. Exalted is our Lord above His Hand being like the hands of His creation.

Allah has called Himself al-‘Azīz, the Almighty, and He called one of the rulers ‘azīz, saying:

“And women in the city said, ‘The wife of al-‘Azīz is seeking to seduce her young servant.’” [Yūsuf: 30]

Joseph’s brothers called their brother Joseph ‘azīz, saying:

“O ‘Azīz, he has a very aged father.” [Yūsuf: 78]

And He said ⦗63⦘:

“They said, ‘O ‘Azīz, hardship has afflicted us and our family.’” [Yūsuf: 88]

The might of our Creator—the might that is an attribute of His Essence—is not like the might of created beings whom Allah has endowed with might. If every name by which Allah named Himself and which He also applied to some of His creation entailed likening the Creator to the created being, as these ignorant Jahmiyyah imagine, then everyone who recites the Quran and believes in his heart that it is the Quran, revelation sent down by Allah, would have likened his Creator to His creation.

Our Lord, Blessed and Most High, informed us that He is the King, and He called one of His servants a king, saying:

“And the king said, ‘Bring him to me.’” [Yūsuf: 50]

He, exalted in majesty, informed us that He is the Magnificent, and He described one of His servants as great, saying:

“And they said, ‘Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from one of the two cities?’” [al-Zukhruf: 31]

Allah also described something He created as great, saying:

“And He is the Lord of the Great Throne.” [al-Tawbah: 129]

Allah is the Magnificent, and He applied the same designation, ‘azīm, to His Throne, though the Throne is created. Our Lord is the Compeller, the Supreme. He said:

“The Source of Peace, the Giver of Security, the Guardian, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme.” [al-Hashr: 23]

He also described certain disbelievers as arrogant and tyrannical, using the same words, mutakabbir and jabbār, saying:

“Thus does Allah seal every heart of an arrogant tyrant.” [Ghāfir: 35]

⦗64⦘ Our Originator, Mighty and Majestic, is the Preserver, the All-Knowing. He informed us that Joseph, peace be upon him, said to the king:

“Appoint me over the storehouses of the land. Indeed, I am a knowledgeable guardian.” [Yūsuf: 55]

He said:

“And they gave him glad tidings of a knowledgeable boy.” [al-Dhāriyāt: 28]

And He said:

“Of a forbearing boy.” [al-Sāffāt: 101]

The Forbearing and the All-Knowing are two names of the One we worship, Exalted and Most High, and He has used these same descriptions for some of the children of Adam.

People of understanding, if the people of the Sunnah and transmitted reports necessarily incurred the ignorant people’s accusation of likening Allah to His creation when they affirm two Hands for the One they worship, just as Allah affirmed them for Himself, and affirm a Self for Him—exalted and majestic is our Lord—and affirm that He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, that He hears and sees, then everyone who called Allah King, Magnificent, Compassionate, Merciful, Compeller or Supreme would necessarily have likened his Creator, Mighty and Majestic, to His creation. Allah forbid that anyone who describes Allah, Mighty and Most High, as He described Himself in His Book or through the words of His chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, should thereby be likening his Creator to His creation! ⦗65⦘

As for the Jahmiyyah’s invoking against the people of the Sunnah and transmitted reports, in matters of this kind, His words,

“There is nothing like Him,” [al-Shūrā: 11]

who says that our Creator has an equal or a likeness? This is merely deception directed at the rabble and the lowly. They use it to mislead the ignorant, making them imagine that whoever describes Allah as He described Himself in His definitive revelation or through the words of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has likened the Creator to the created being. How, people of understanding, could His creation be like Him?

We say: Allah is beginningless and has always existed, whereas creation came into being and is subject to its Lord. Allah is the Provider, whereas created beings are provided for. Allah is everlasting and enduring, whereas His creation perishes and does not endure. Allah has no need of any of His creation, whereas created beings are in need of Allah, their Creator.

Our applying some of Allah’s names to certain created beings does not, in the judgement of rational people who understand Allah’s address, justify the claim: “You have likened Allah to His creation by applying Allah’s names to His creation.” Do these ignorant people imagine that these names can be removed from copies of the Quran, erased from the hearts of those who have memorised it, or no longer recited in prayer niches, within walls and in homes?

Has not the One who sent down the Quran to His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, informed us that He is the King, while calling one of His servants a king? He informed us that He is al-Salām, the Source of Peace, and called the believers’ greeting to one another, in this world and in Paradise, salām, “peace,” saying:

“Their greeting on the Day they meet Him will be ‘Peace.’” [al-Ahzāb: 44]

Our chosen Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say after finishing ⦗66⦘ the salutation that concludes the prayer:

“O Allah, You are the Source of Peace, and from You comes peace.”

He, Mighty and Majestic, said:

“And do not say to someone who offers you a greeting of peace, ‘You are not a believer.’” [al-Nisā’: 94]

Allah’s statement thus establishes that Allah is al-Salām, as in His words:

“The Source of Peace, the Giver of Security, the Guardian.” [al-Hashr: 23]

Yet He also applied this name to something other than the Creator, the Originator. He, Mighty and Majestic, informed us that He is al-Mu’min, the Giver of Security, and called some of His servants mu’minīn, believers, saying:

“The believers are only those whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned.” [al-Anfāl: 2]

He said:

“The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger,” [al-Nūr: 62]

and the rest of the verse. He said:

“And if two groups of believers fight one another.” [al-Hujurāt: 9]

And He said:

“Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women.” [al-Ahzāb: 35]

We have already mentioned that Allah declared Himself All-Hearing, All-Seeing, and informed us that He made man hearing and seeing. He said:

“Has there come upon man ⦗67⦘ a period of time,” [al-Insān: 1]

up to His words:

“And We made him hearing and seeing.” [al-Insān: 2]

Allah is the Judge, the Just, and our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, informed us “that Jesus son of Mary will descend before the Hour as a just judge and an equitable leader.” The Equitable is also one of the names of Allah, Mighty and Majestic,