had promised; and He removed that notion with His words: “And who is more faithful to His covenant than Allah?” (Al-Tawbah 9:112).

Likewise is His saying: “Are they waiting for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or your Lord should come, or some of the signs of your Lord should come?” (Al-Anʿam 6:158). Because He mentioned His own coming, someone might imagine that what is intended is only the coming of some of His signs. So He dispelled that misconception and clarified the matter by expressly adding: “or some of the signs of your Lord should come.” With this three-part enumeration the statement becomes an explicit text that cannot bear any other meaning.

When you reflect on the hadiths concerning the divine attributes you will see the same method shining [ق 20 ب] on their pages, plainly evident in their wording. Consider his statement ﷺ: “You will behold your Lord directly, just as you see the sun at noon in a cloudless sky (1), and just as you see the full moon on a clear night with no cloud veiling it” (2).

He also said: “There is none of you but that his Lord will speak to him (3) with no interpreter translating for him and no screen concealing Him” (4). Since audiences with earthly kings may take place through an interpreter or from behind a curtain, the Prophet ﷺ removed that misconception from people’s minds (5).

The same applies to another report (6) in which he ﷺ recited: “Allah has always been All-Hearing, All-Seeing.”