15 – Al-Mubarak ibn ʿAli al-Sayrafi reported to us, by authorization; Abu l-Hasan Muhammad ibn Marzuq ibn ʿAbd al-Razzaq al-Zaʿfarani narrated to us; and al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Thabit al-Tayyib said:

“As for discourse concerning the divine attributes, whatever has been transmitted in the sound collections of the Sunan represents the creed of the early generations: to affirm those attributes, to let them stand upon their apparent meaning, and to deny any enquiry into how (kayfiyya) or any likeness (tashbih). The guiding principle here is that discussion of the attributes is a corollary of discussion of the Divine Essence; it must follow the same path and pattern. Just as it is agreed that affirming the Lord of the Worlds merely affirms His existence—without delimiting Him or ascribing a modality—so, too, affirming His attributes simply affirms that they exist, without delimitation or qualification.

Thus, when we say that Allah Most High has a hand, hearing, and sight, we are only affirming attributes which Allah Himself has affirmed. We do not say that ‘hand’ means power, nor that hearing and sight mean knowledge; nor do we claim that they are bodily parts, nor do we liken them to the hands, hearings, and sights that are bodily limbs and instruments of action. We state that these attributes are affirmed solely because the revealed texts have affirmed them, while it is obligatory to deny all similarity to created things, in accordance with His words: “Nothing is like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing” (Q 42:11), and His words: “And none is comparable to Him” (Q 112:4).