And the underlying principle here is that discussion of the attributes follows from discussion of the divine Essence and is governed by the same principles. Since it is understood that affirming the Creator—glory be to Him—means affirming His existence, not specifying how He is, likewise affirming His attributes means affirming their existence, not defining their limits or specifying how they are. When we speak of a Hand, hearing, sight, and similar attributes, these are simply attributes that Allah has affirmed for Himself.

We do not say that the Hand means strength or bounty, or that hearing and sight mean knowledge. Nor do we say that these attributes are bodily parts, or liken them to hands and organs of hearing and sight that are bodily parts and instruments of action. Rather, we say that affirming the attributes is obligatory because revelation has attested to them, and that rejecting any likeness to created things is obligatory because there is nothing like Allah. This is the approach the early generations followed regarding the hadiths concerning the divine attributes.”

All of this is al-Khattābī’s statement.

The hadith master Abū Bakr al-Khatīb likewise stated this in an epistle in which he explained that this was the position of the early generations. Statements similar to what al-Khattābī mentioned have been transmitted by countless scholars, including Abū Bakr al-Ismāʿīlī; Imam Yahyā ibn ʿAmmār al-Sijzī; Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, the author of “Stations of the Wayfarers” and “Condemnation of Speculative Theology,” whose renown needs no elaboration; Shaykh al-Islām Abū ʿUthmān al-Sābūnī; Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr al-Namarī, the imam of the Maghreb; and others.