description or likening Him to creation. Whoever explains any of this has departed from the way of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and separated himself from the community. For they neither described nor explained, but believed in what is in the Book and Sunnah and then remained silent. Whoever adopts Jahm’s position has separated himself from the community.” End of quotation.

Consider—may Allah have mercy on you—how this imam reported consensus on this matter. There is no good in anything that departs from their consensus. Had refraining from reinterpreting these attributes entailed attributing corporeality to Allah, they would have shunned it and reinterpreted them, for they knew better than anyone else in the Muslim community what is possible and what is impossible with respect to Allah.

It is also established that Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sābūnī said:

“Those devoted to hadith who adhere to the Book and Sunnah know their Lord—blessed and exalted is He—through His attributes, which His Book and revelation declare and to which His Messenger testified, as conveyed in authentic reports transmitted by upright, trustworthy narrators. They do not believe that His attributes resemble those of His creation, nor do they specify their manner as those who liken Him to creation do. Nor do they distort words from their proper meanings as the Mu‘tazila and Jahmiyya do. Allah has protected ‘Ahl al-Sunnah’ from distortion and assigning a manner, and has blessed them with understanding and knowledge. Thus they have followed the path of affirming Allah’s oneness and His freedom from imperfection, abandoning the denial of His attributes and the likening of Him to creation. In denying imperfections, they have contented themselves with His words—exalted is He who says:

‘There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.’

And His words, Most High:

‘And there is none comparable to Him.’”

Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr said:

“Whatever was unknown to the participants in the Battle of Badr is not part of the religion.”

It is established that al-Rabī‘ ibn Sulaymān said:

“I asked al-Shāfi‘ī—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—