the ḥadīth about the horses, the ḥadīth of ʿArafāt, and other inventions of this kind. They deemed accepting them to be Sunnah and viewed anyone who denied them with suspicion. Yet both parties are mistaken. God has made moderation the station of justice, and He has forbidden excess in matters of religion that are far beneath His attributes—how much more so with regard to His very attributes. He has spared us the burden of pondering how He is, how He decrees, or how He creates, and He has not obliged us with anything beyond what He has instilled within our nature and capacity.

Summary of the Salaf’s belief concerning the divine attributes

The just and balanced stance toward these narrations is to believe in whatever of them is authentically transmitted by trustworthy reporters. Accordingly, we affirm the Vision, the divine Self-disclosure, that He marvels, that He descends to the lowest heaven, that He rose over the Throne, and that He possesses Self and two Hands—without ascribing to any of this a specific mode, dimension, or limit, and without extending analogy to matters for which no text exists. We hope that by holding to this creed and binding our hearts to it, we shall, God willing, be on the path of salvation tomorrow.