Thus, He states in His Book that He is Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all, All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, Almighty, All-Wise, and so forth; that He is pleased, becomes angry, loves, and is displeased; and that He created and rose over the Throne, and so forth. By way of negation, He says:

“There is nothing like Him.”
Sūrah al-Shūrā, 11.

“And there is none comparable to Him.”
Sūrah al-Ikhlās, 3.

“Do you know of any equal to Him?”
Sūrah Maryam, 65.

Hence, the way of the early generations and the imams is to affirm His attributes without likening them to those of creation. They neither deny His attributes nor liken them to the attributes of created beings.

[Continuation of Imam Ahmad’s Words]

Imam Ahmad said:

“All praise is due to Allah, who, in every interval between messengers, has provided a remnant of people of knowledge who call those who have strayed to guidance and patiently endure the harm they inflict. Through the Book of Allah, they bring the dead to life, and through Allah’s light, they enable the blind to see. How many whom Satan has slain have they brought back to life? And how many lost wanderers have they guided? How good is their influence upon people, and how evil is people’s treatment of them! They remove from the Book of Allah the distortions of those who go to excess, the false attributions of the purveyors of falsehood, and the interpretations of