and the same distinction applies to wajjaha (“to direct”) and tawajjaha (“to turn toward”), qaddama (“to bring forward”) and taqaddama (“to advance”), and bayyana (“to make clear”) and tabayyana (“to become clear”). Thus, the meaning is: “Wherever you face, there is the Face of Allah”—that is, whatever place you face, there is the Face of Allah.

The point here is that those among the early generations and the imams who held this view did not do so because they denied the Face of Allah, which the believers will see in the Hereafter. Rather, they held it because they considered it the apparent meaning of the passage: the word “face” is commonly used to mean “direction,” and the qiblah (direction of prayer) is a direction. He has stated that His Face is there—that is, in that place. This accords with His qiblah being in that place, for His attribute is not located in a place.

Thus, in our view, this interpretation does not fall at all within the category of reinterpretation that departs from the apparent meaning. The aim is not to defend this view, but to explain its rationale and show that those of the early generations who held it neither denied the attribute nor maintained that the verse’s apparent meaning was impossible.

A general answer may then be given here: “face” is used to mean “direction,” and this does not depart from the apparent meaning of the passage when that is