so-and-so was hungry? Had you fed him, you would have found that with Me.’”

Thus, this statement is established in the hadith: “Had you visited him, you would have found Me with him.” Yet the transmitted wording is that Allah is to be found with certain sick people and with those whose hearts are broken. He did not say, “I am with those whose hearts are broken.” Rather, He said, “You would have found Me there”; and when asked, “Where can I find You?” He replied, “There.”

This may be discussed from several angles. First, the apparent meaning of this hadith is not that Allah descended from above the Throne and moved to be with these people. Nor is its apparent meaning that all existence is devoid of Allah except for this particular location. Such a meaning is not understood from an unqualified statement of this hadith. Rather, everyone who knows that this meaning is false—as is self-evident and known through sense perception—knows that it is not the apparent meaning of the hadith.

Even if the apparent meaning of the wording in the language, taken in isolation, would indicate that false meaning, once it is accompanied by this evident knowledge, grounded in sense perception and self-evident necessity, calling that false meaning the apparent meaning of the wording would be a matter of dispute. The same applies to calling something of this kind a verbal expression. Whoever rejects this says: “This