motion. Once this is explicitly denied, it becomes difficult to understand the descriptions of the Gathering: [that] the Creator appears [before] those assembled and Himself undertakes their reckoning, as the Exalted says:

“And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank (22).” [al-Fajr: 22]

Likewise, the well-known hadith of the descent becomes difficult to interpret nonliterally, although it lends itself to such interpretation more readily than the accounts of the Gathering. Moreover, the accounts of the Gathering are mass-transmitted in the revealed sources. The general public must therefore not be explicitly told anything that would, in their understanding, invalidate the apparent meanings of these texts. Their influence upon the hearts of the general public depends on their being understood according to their apparent meanings.

If, however, they are interpreted nonliterally, this leads to one of two outcomes: either such interpretation is applied to these and similar passages of the revealed religion, thereby tearing the entire religion apart and defeating its intended wisdom; or all these passages are declared ambiguous. All this amounts to nullifying the revealed religion and effacing it from