who uphold this position, preserve the transmitted wording, and neither deny nor affirm anything concerning Allah except what has come down in the transmitted reports or conveys the same meaning.

A third group affirms these attributes and also affirms what those who deny them negate. They say, “He is a body unlike other bodies,” and affirm the meanings that the others negate by using the term “body.” This is the position of various groups of earlier and later speculative theologians.

A fourth group, besides describing Him as a body, ascribes to Him the characteristics of other bodies. This is the position of those who liken Allah to His creation and equate Him with it; it is established that the Muslim community’s scholars declared them innovators and misguided.

None of the imams or the early generations used the term “body” concerning Allah, whether to deny or affirm it. Nor did they condemn or praise anyone, or any doctrine, by this designation. Rather, what is transmitted from them through numerous independent reports is their condemnation of the Jahmiyyah, who deny these attributes, and their condemnation of certain groups among them, such as those who liken Allah to His creation. They also explained whom they meant by those who liken Him to His creation.

As for the term “part,” I know of no report that any of the early generations used it, whether to deny or affirm it, nor that any Hanbalī or the like applied it affirmatively to Allah. Likewise, I do not know of any of them who affirmatively applied the term “body” to Him, although those among them and others who affirm these attributes do affirm the meanings that their opponents call corporealism and division into parts