Sixth, he said: “The believer draws near to his Lord, Most High, on the Day of Resurrection, and He places His covering over him.” Yet he offered only this explanation: “Know that what is meant by His nearness and drawing close is the nearness of His mercy and its drawing close.” This does not explain the hadith, because he has treated the two instances of drawing near as one and the same. This is confusion, as already explained.

However, he did not give the full interpretation known from the Jahmiyyah. They said: “We understand it to mean that He brings him near to His mercy, reward, affection, and kindness. This is permissible in the language, and what is meant is standing and elevation in rank.” Although this interpretation of theirs is false, it is nevertheless something an advocate of figurative interpretation could say about this hadith, unlike the explanation he gave. We shall now demonstrate its falsity.

Seventh, we say: The mercy, īmān, and other things to which the servant is brought near must be either entities subsisting in themselves or attributes subsisting in something else. If they are attributes, it is well known that nearness to an attribute is possible only through nearness to the one possessing that attribute. Thus, the servant cannot be brought near to the mercy or īmān subsisting in Allah unless he is brought near to Allah Himself. As for his drawing near to an attribute subsisting in Him without drawing near to Him Himself, its falsity and unsoundness are evident. Hence, none of the worshippers has said this. Rather, whoever considers nearness to Him Himself impossible