too much to recount fully. Nevertheless, I shall write a summary of what I can recall, despite the time that has elapsed and the raised voices and clamour that were difficult to follow.

One objection raised by someone present concerned the statement at the beginning of the creed:

“Faith in Allah includes believing in the attributes with which He has described Himself and with which His Messenger has described Him, without distorting or denying them, specifying their manner, or likening them to those of creation.”

He asked, “What is meant by distortion and denial?” His point was that this rules out the interpretation advocated by its proponents—namely, diverting an expression from its apparent meaning, whether this is held to be obligatory or permissible. I replied:

Distortion means altering words from their proper places, as Allah Most High condemns in His Book: diverting an expression from the meaning it conveys. An example is the interpretation given by some of the Jahmiyyah to His words, Most High:

“And Allah spoke to Moses directly.”

They take this to mean that He wounded him with the claws of wisdom. Other examples include the interpretations of the Qarmatians, the Bātiniyyah, and others among the Jahmiyyah, Rāfidah, Qadariyyah, and others.

He fell silent, while I had my own thoughts.

On another occasion, outside this session, I explained that I had chosen the term “distortion” rather than “interpretation” because distortion is expressly condemned in the Quran. In this creed, I endeavoured to follow the Book and the Sunnah, so I rejected the distortion that Allah condemns. I did not use the term “interpretation” either to deny or to affirm it, because it has several meanings, as I have explained in the relevant discussion of principles.