I say:
The nonliteral interpretation of the Balance, the Bridge, the punishment of the grave, and Allah’s hearing and sight is the position of the Mu'tazilah of Baghdad, not those of Basra.

Abū Hāmid said:
“They advanced this far, but the philosophers went further still, interpreting everything mentioned concerning the Hereafter as intellectual and spiritual matters and intellectual pleasures.”

Later he said:
“These are the ones who go to excess in nonliteral interpretation. The boundary of moderation between these two positions is subtle and obscure. Only those granted divine guidance, who perceive things through a divine light rather than through transmitted teachings, can discern it. Then, when the realities of things are unveiled to them as they truly are, they examine the transmitted teachings and their wording. Whatever agrees with what they have witnessed through the light of certainty, they affirm; whatever conflicts with it, they interpret nonliterally. As for someone who derives all these matters from transmitted teachings, he has no firm footing.”

I say:
What this statement amounts to is that nothing concerning matters of knowledge can be learned from what the Messenger reports—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Rather, each person perceives such matters only through the direct perception, illumination, and unveiling he has attained. These are two foundations of deviation from faith. For anyone who experiences an unveiling will fall into error unless he weighs it against the Quran and the Sunnah.