al-Qādī. In his book Refuting Figurative Interpretations of Reports Concerning the Attributes, al-Qādī sometimes interprets passages such as this figuratively. Nevertheless, he explains that such interpretations were necessary because the scriptural evidence from the Quran and Sunnah ruled out those meanings, as he mentioned here and as will be seen in his discussion of the saying: “I sense the breath of the Most Merciful coming from the right.”

There is no doubt that interpreting a text otherwise than its apparent meaning on the basis of another text is not something the jurists dispute. What we have rejected is the claim that the apparent meaning of the Quran is falsehood and disbelief without Allah Most High having made that clear. This is something the scholars of Islam reject.

‘Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd al-Dārimī also narrated this report, traced back to the Prophet, with different wording, in affirmation of the attribute of the Hand. He said: Al-Haytham ibn Khārijah narrated to us, saying: Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Ayyāsh narrated to us, from Humayd ibn Abī