Yahyā ibn Habīb al-Hārithī narrated to us: Khālid—that is, Ibn al-Hārith—narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlān. And Muhammad ibn al-‘Alā’, Abū Kurayb, narrated to us: Abū Khālid narrated to us, from Ibn ‘Ajlān, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When Allah created creation, He wrote with His own Hand, prescribing for Himself: ‘My mercy prevails over My wrath.’”

Abū Bakr said: Allah, majestic and exalted, has affirmed in verses of His Book that He has a Self. Likewise, through the words of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, He has made clear that He has a Self, just as He affirmed this in His Book. Yet the Jahmiyyah have disbelieved in these verses and these prophetic traditions. Some of their ignorant followers have claimed that Allah Most High ascribed a Self to Himself only in the same sense that He ascribes creation to Himself. They have claimed that His Self is other than Him, just as His creation is other than Him. No person of understanding and knowledge would even conceive of this, let alone utter it.

Allah has made known in His clear revelation that He has prescribed mercy for Himself. Would a Muslim imagine that Allah Most High prescribed mercy for someone other than Himself? Allah has warned His servants of Himself. Is it permissible for a Muslim to ⦗20⦘ say that Allah warned His servants of someone other than Himself? Or to interpret His words to Moses, to whom He spoke directly:

“And I have chosen you for Myself” [Tā Hā: 41],

as meaning, “I have chosen you for someone other than Myself among created beings”? Or to claim that the Spirit of Allah meant, by his words:

“and I do not know what is within Yourself” [al-Mā’idah: 116],

“I do not know what is within someone other than You”? No Muslim would conceive of this, and none would say it except a disbeliever who denies Allah’s attributes.