argument is as follows. Al-Ashʿarī said: Allah, glorified and exalted be He, said:

“And your Lord comes, with the angels, rank upon rank.” (22)

And He, Mighty and Majestic, said:

“Are they waiting for anything but Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds?” [al-Baqarah 210]

And He, glorified and exalted be He, said:

“Then He drew near and descended (8), until He was two bow-lengths away or nearer (9). Then He revealed to His servant what He revealed (10).” [al-Najm 8–10]

His citing these verses as evidence that Allah is above the Throne entails that, in his view, it is Allah who comes; otherwise, the argument would not be valid, as explained previously.

He continued: He, glorified and exalted be He, said:

“O Jesus, I will take you and raise you to Myself.” [Āl ʿImrān 55]

And He, glorified and exalted be He, said:

“They certainly did not kill him (157). Rather, Allah raised him to Himself.” [al-Nisāʾ 157–158]

He said: The Muslim community unanimously agrees that Allah Most High raised Jesus to heaven.

Thus, this argument of al-Ashʿarī—one of the foremost theologians who affirmed the divine attributes—explicitly shows that he affirmed that Allah Himself is approached by His servants and comes to His servants, while maintaining that He is not a body. The same applies to Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh