we sat with and from whom we acquired knowledge.” He then discussed faith, divine decree, threats of punishment, leadership, what the Messenger foretold concerning the signs of the Hour, the intermediate state after death, the Resurrection, and other matters, until he said:

“He, glorified be He, is separate from His creation, yet no place is beyond His knowledge. Allah has a Throne, and the Throne has bearers who carry it; there is a limit, and Allah knows that limit best. Allah is upon His Throne—glorious is His mention and exalted His majesty—and there is no god besides Him. Allah Most High is All-Hearing, never doubting; All-Seeing, never uncertain; All-Knowing, never ignorant; generous, never miserly; forbearing, never hasty; preserving, never forgetful; awake, never distracted; watchful, never heedless. He speaks, moves, hears, sees, looks, withholds, bestows abundantly, rejoices, loves, dislikes, hates, is pleased, is displeased, becomes angry, shows mercy, dozes, forgives, gives, and withholds. Every night He descends to the lowest heaven, however He wills and as He wills. There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

He continued until he said:

“Allah has always spoken and known. Blessed, then, is Allah, the best of creators.”

The jurist and hadith master Abū Bakr al-Athram said in his book al-Sunnah, as transmitted from him by al-Khallāl in al-Sunnah:

“Ibrāhīm ibn al-Hārith—meaning al-ʿAbbādī—narrated to us: al-Layth ibn Yahyā narrated to me that he heard Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashʿath—Abū Bakr noted that he was a companion of al-Fudayl—say that he heard al-Fudayl ibn ʿIyād say: ‘We must not imagine how Allah is in this way or that, for Allah has described Himself in the most eloquent terms, saying:

“Say: He is Allah, the One; * Allah, the Eternal Refuge; * He neither begets nor is born; * nor is there equal to Him