—if Allah Most High wills—what al-Ghazālī and others have said when we discuss al-Rāzī’s distinction between what admits of figurative interpretation and what does not. For they are all inconsistent on the fundamental issue, just as they are deficient in their knowledge of the early generations and the imams, and of what the Quran and Sunnah indicate.

Our purpose here, however, is to mention what he quoted from Ahmad. In the course of his discussion of figurative interpretations, he said: “In this matter, the proponents of the various positions range from excessive to moderate. Some went to such excess in rejecting the apparent meanings that they ended up changing all or most of them, even interpreting the words of Allah Most High:

‘Their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will bear witness’ [Yā Sīn 65]