By means of this example I wish to demonstrate that the doctrine of tawḥīd, with all its corollaries and requirements, is—regrettably—still unclear in the minds of many who themselves profess the Salafi creed, let alone those who have adopted Ashʿarī, Māturīdī, or Jahmī theology on issues such as this. My purpose in drawing on this illustration is to show that the matter is not as straightforward as some of today’s preachers—who otherwise agree with us in calling people to the Qur’an and the Sunnah—make it appear. It is by no means as easy as they claim, and the reason is the very point already explained: the difference between the ignorance of the first idolaters—who, when invited to say “There is no god but Allah,” refused because they understood the implications of that blessed phrase—and the majority of contemporary Muslims who pronounce the same words yet do not grasp their true meaning.

This essential distinction is now evident in the doctrine at hand, namely Allah’s exaltedness above all of His creation. The matter requires elucidation. It is not enough for a Muslim merely to believe that “the Most Merciful rose over the Throne” (Ta Ha 5) or to quote the ḥadīth, “Show mercy to those on earth and the One in heaven will show you mercy” (1), without realizing that the preposition fi (in) in this ḥadīth is not locative. It is the very same fi that appears in His saying, “Do you feel secure…”