and Ibn Khuzaymah, Abū al-Shaykh al-Asbahānī, and others. For this reason, leading religious authorities and other scholars of the Sunnah criticized them. One example is what Abū Bakr ibn Khuzaymah wrote in The Book of Divine Oneness. He mentioned the three possibilities: that the pronoun refers to the person being struck, that it refers to Adam, and that it refers to Allah. He interpreted the last possibility as attributing a created thing to Allah. He said:

“Chapter on reports narrated from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) which some who lacked a thorough grounding in knowledge misinterpreted, thereby misleading a multitude of ignorant and obstinate people. Their ignorance of the report’s meaning led them to liken Allah to His creation. Exalted and Mighty is He, far above the face of any of His creatures being like