We also believe that Allah has made the lives, property, and honour of believers inviolable to one another, as was declared at the Farewell Pilgrimage. Whoever claims that he can attain a station with Allah at which the True One permits him what is forbidden to believers—except for someone compelled by necessity in circumstances requiring him to preserve life—such a claim is disbelief in Allah, however far a servant may have advanced in knowledge and acts of worship. Whoever says this advocates freedom from religious prohibitions; such people have cast off religion.

We also believe that the term ‘ʿishq’ (passionate love) should not be applied to Allah Most High.” He explained that this is impermissible because of the term’s derivation and because it has no basis in the revealed law. He said: “At the very least, it is an innovation and a departure from right guidance. What Allah has explicitly stated concerning love is sufficient.

We also believe that Allah does not indwell visible things; that He alone possesses perfection in His names and attributes, is separate from His creation, and is established above His Throne; and that the Quran is His uncreated speech—wherever it is recited, studied, or memorized.

We believe that Allah Most High took Abraham as an intimate friend, and took our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as an intimate friend and a beloved one. This intimate friendship is bestowed upon them both by Him, contrary to the Muʿtazilah’s assertion that intimate friendship means poverty and need.”

He went on to say: “Intimate friendship and love are two attributes of Allah with which He is described. His attributes are not subject to specifying their manner or likening them to those of creation. The love and intimate friendship of created beings, by contrast, may be described in terms of their manner. As for His attributes, Most High, they are known as matters of knowledge and are set forth in the descriptions through which He is made known. Any likeness to creation is excluded from these two attributes. Belief in this is obligatory, while assigning a manner to it is excluded.