all makes it abundantly clear that their appeal to the hadith concerning the form and similar reports is among the gravest forms of mockery of Allah’s signs, given their opposition and hostility to the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). How could it be otherwise, when, according to them, He is every seer and everything seen? How, then, could what the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) reported accord with their views?

The fifth point: The hadiths, together with the verses of the Quran, state that He will come to His servants on the Day of Resurrection in the manner described, whereas, according to these people, He is everything that comes, in this world and the Hereafter.

As for those who affirm union or indwelling in particular beings—such as those who claim union or indwelling in the Messiah, ‘Alī, certain shaykhs, certain kings, or others, against whom we have argued at length elsewhere—they too may interpret this hadith just as it was interpreted by