ibn Yahyā, who said: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ash‘ath—Abū Bakr said that he was al-Fudayl’s companion—say: I heard al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyād say:

‘We have no right to imagine what Allah is like, for Allah, Most High, has described Himself in the most eloquent terms, saying:

“Say: He is Allah, the One;
Allah, the Eternal Refuge.
He neither begets nor is born,
nor is there anyone equal to Him.”

‘No description is more eloquent than that with which He has described Himself. All this descending, laughing, taking pride, and observing is as He wills: He descends as He wills, takes pride as He wills, laughs as He wills, and observes as He wills. It is not for us to speculate about how any of this occurs.

‘If a Jahmī says, “I disbelieve in a Lord who moves from His place,” say, “Rather, I believe in a Lord who does whatever He wills.”’”

A number of scholars transmitted this from al-Fudayl, including al-Bukhārī in The Acts of the Servants. Shaykh al-Islām also transmitted it with his chain of narration in his book al-Fārūq, saying: Yahyā ibn ‘Ammār narrated to us: My father narrated to us: Yūsuf ibn Ya‘qūb narrated to us: Harmī ibn ‘Alī al-Bukhārī and Hāni’ ibn al-Nadr narrated to us from al-Fudayl.

‘Amr ibn ‘Uthmān al-Makkī said in his book, which he entitled Understanding the States of Worshippers and Devotees: “Chapter on What Satan Brings to Those Who Repent.” He mentioned that Satan leads them into despair, then into delusion and hopes of a long life, and then attacks their belief in divine oneness. He said:

“Among his gravest insinuations concerning divine oneness is imagining a form; or, concerning the Lord’s attributes, equating or likening them to those of creation, or denying and nullifying them.”

After mentioning the hadith concerning satanic insinuations, he said: