Then one of the leading opponents said: “In that case, it would be permissible to say: ‘He is a body unlike other bodies.’”

Some of the learned men present and I replied: “What was stated is only that Allah is described by what He has described Himself with and what His Messenger has described Him with. Neither the Quran nor the Sunnah says that Allah is a body, so this objection does not follow.”

One of the judges present, who was known for his religious devotion, sought to make it clear that we were innocent of the claims some people made and attributed to us. He therefore became increasingly emphatic in denying that we likened Allah to creation or attributed a body to Him.

I said: “In several places in it, I stated: ‘without distortion or denial of His attributes, and without specifying how or likening Him to creation.’ At its beginning I said: ‘Belief in Allah includes believing in the attributes with which He has described Himself in His Book and with which His Messenger Muhammad has described Him, without distortion or denial of His attributes, and without specifying how or likening Him to creation.’”

Then I said: “The descriptions that the Messenger gave of his Lord in the authentic hadiths accepted by those versed in this knowledge must likewise be believed.” I continued until I said: “And other similar authentic hadiths in which the Messenger of Allah gives such accounts. The saved group—the people of the Sunnah and the community—believe in these just as they believe in what Allah has related in His Book, without distortion or denial of His attributes, and without specifying how or likening Him to creation. Rather, they follow a middle course among the factions of this community, just as this community follows a middle course among the nations.