by specialists and lay people alike; that is, they apprehend the essential meaning, though not the full reality or the manner. Thus, some of the Companions were puzzled by His words, “…until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread…,” until they were clarified for them by His statement, “…of the dawn” (Al-Baqarah 2:186). Yet neither that Companion nor anyone else found any difficulty with the verse, “When My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls upon Me” (Al-Baqarah 2:185), or with other passages that speak of the divine attributes. Likewise, the verse concerning kalālah (inheritance from one who dies leaving neither parent nor child) perplexed ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, while he had no uncertainty about the opening of Sūrat al-Ḥadīd, the close of Sūrat al-Hashr, the beginning of Sūrat Ṭā Hā, and similar verses on the attributes (1).

Furthermore, a number of the legal verses are concise, and their clarification became known only through the Sunnah. For example, His words, “…then a compensation: fasting, or charity, or sacrificial offering” (Al-Baqarah 2:195) leave unspecified the length of the fast and the amount of food; the Sunnah explained that it is a fast of three days, or feeding six needy people, or slaughtering a sheep (2). Likewise, His command, “and let them circumambulate the Ancient House” (Al-Ḥajj 22:27) is indeterminate regarding the number of circuits; the Sunnah clarified that it is seven (3). Numerous other instances exist, such as the verses on theft, on zakāh, and on ḥajj.

By contrast, none of the verses or hadiths dealing with the divine attributes is so summary that it requires external clarification; their explanation is contained within themselves. Even when the Sunnah provides additional detail and elaboration, the passages concerning the attributes are never brief statements whose intended meaning could be known only through the Sunnah (4).