the hadith of Abū Hurayrah. The hadith of Abū Hurayrah agrees with the other hadiths in indicating that this occurred in a dream, as stated in this version. Yet only those without a thorough knowledge of hadith, its wording and its transmission—among the jurists, speculative theologians, Sufis and the like—regarded this as authentic. That is why they cited it, some reinterpreting it and others rejecting reinterpretation.

Furthermore, those who affirm the divine attributes add to the hadiths in both wording and meaning: they affirm attributes on the basis of some fabricated hadiths and treat certain apparent meanings as attributes when they are not. Those who deny the attributes undermine the hadiths in both wording and meaning, rejecting the truth and distorting words from their proper places.

An example of this is the report transmitted by al-Khallāl: ‘Amr ibn Ishāq narrated to us; Abū Muslim al-Hadramī narrated to us; Abū Mu‘āwiyah Wahb ibn ‘Amr al-Ahmūsī narrated to us, from Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān, from Muqātil ibn Hayyān, from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn ‘Abbās, who related that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

“When I was taken by night to heaven, I saw the Most Merciful