the way of the believers, We shall leave him to the path he has chosen and cast him into Hell—an evil destination.”

Allah has testified to the faith of the Companions of His Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and those who followed them in goodness. Thus, it is known with certainty that they are the ones intended in this noble verse. Allah Most High says:

“And the first forerunners among the Emigrants and the Helpers and those who followed them in goodness—Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great triumph.”

And Allah Most High says:

“Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you beneath the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquillity upon them and rewarded them with a victory near at hand.”

Since it is established that whoever follows a path other than theirs will be left by Allah to what he has chosen and made to enter Hell, their approach to creed includes:

“Belief in the attributes and names of Allah Most High”

with which He has described and named Himself in His revealed Book or through His Messenger, without adding to them, subtracting from them, going beyond them, explaining them, reinterpreting them in a way contrary to their apparent meaning, or likening them to the attributes of creatures or the characteristics of created beings. Rather, they accepted them as they came and entrusted knowledge of them to the One who uttered them, and their meaning to the One who spoke them.

One of them said—and this is also reported from al-Shāfiʿī:

“I believe in what has come from Allah and in what has come from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah intended.”

They knew that the One who spoke these words was truthful, with no doubt concerning His truthfulness, so they believed Him. They did not know the reality of their meaning, so they remained silent about what they did not know. Later generations received this from earlier ones, and some of them exhorted