Volume Five
The Book of the Divine Names and Attributes

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. Praise belongs to Allah alone, and may blessings and peace be upon him after whom there is no prophet.

Shaykh al-Islām, the godly scholar Taqī al-Dīn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Halīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Taymiyya—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

What do the esteemed scholars, the imams of the religion, say concerning the “verses concerning the divine attributes,” such as His saying, Most High:

“The Most Merciful has risen over the Throne,”

and His saying:

“Then He rose over the Throne,”

and His saying:

“Then He turned toward the heaven while it was smoke,”

and other verses concerning the divine attributes; and concerning the “hadiths concerning the divine attributes,” such as the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Indeed, the hearts of the children of Adam are between two fingers of the Most Merciful,”

and his saying:

“The Compeller places His foot in the Fire,”

and other such hadiths? What have the scholars said about these? Please discuss this matter at length; may you be rewarded, if Allah Most High wills.

He replied—may Allah be pleased with him:

Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds. What we say concerning them is what Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said