that is easterly and distinct from wind; it is from the breath of the Most Merciful.

Ibn Hāmid said: “I have found no explicit statement from Abū ʿAbd Allāh on this, nor did al-Khallāl include it in the Book of the Sunnah section of his compendium. What seems more likely to me is that its chain of transmission is weak, so it cannot be used to establish Allah’s attributes.”

I say: Ibn Hāmid thus challenged the very basis of this report and therefore had no need to interpret it figuratively. As for al-Qādī, he said: “It was necessary to understand this