error and corruption, or guilty of lying about what the Messenger intended. Nor could the Messenger have referred those he addressed, for an understanding of the clear Book he brought, to what would later be devised by some who outwardly professed to follow him, after the passing of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the best generations.

The tenth point

His statement: “The theologians said: ‘Since it has been established by proof that Allah Most High is free of direction and corporeality, we must give these expressions occurring in the Quran and the transmitted reports a sound interpretation.’”

The response is: This is not the position of all theologians. Rather, theologians are among those who disagree most sharply over whether He is to be described in terms of direction and corporeality. Most of them are proponents of affirmation, and groups among both their earlier and later scholars explicitly use the terms “body,” “direction,” and others. The majority affirm that He is above the Throne, while some groups explicitly deny this.

Works surveying theological doctrines contain a great deal of both views, even though most of these works were compiled by those who deny corporeality. Nevertheless, they record many of the positions held by proponents of affirmation. What, then, of the works compiled by proponents of affirmation themselves? In every age of Muslim history in which there have been people who deny these things, there have always been proponents of affirmation who oppose them.