and as guidance between two forms of deviation. It emerged untainted by the creeds of the muʿaṭṭilah (the negators), the imaginalists, the agnostics, and the anthropomorphists—just as pure milk flows from between dung and blood, wholesome to those who drink it. (1)

They declared: “We describe Allah only with what He has described Himself and what His Messenger has described Him—without distortion or denial, without likening or anthropomorphism. Our path is to affirm the true realities of the divine names and attributes while negating any resemblance to created things. Thus we neither strip them away, nor reinterpret them, nor liken them, nor plead ignorance. We do not say, ‘Allah has no hands, no face, no hearing, no sight, no life, no power, and no rising over His Throne.’ Nor do we say, ‘He has two hands like those of created beings, a face like theirs, or hearing, sight, life, power, and rising like theirs.’ (2)

Rather, we maintain that He possesses a real essence unlike all other essences, and real attributes—not mere metaphors—unlike the attributes of created beings. The same applies to His face, His two hands, His hearing, His sight, His speech, and His rising over the Throne. None of this prevents us from understanding the intended meanings and realities of those attributes, just as affirming any of Allah’s attributes of perfection does not prevent one from grasping their meaning and reality. Whoever affirms that He, exalted be He, has hearing and sight, affirms them as real and understands their meaning; so it must be with all His sacred attributes. (3)(4) Even though we have no path to… (5)