and in His other Hand is the balance; He lowers and raises.” All these hadiths are in the Sahīh collections.

He also cited his saying:

“When Allah created Adam, He said to him, with both His Hands closed: ‘Choose whichever you wish.’ He replied: ‘I choose my Lord’s right Hand, and both my Lord’s Hands are right and blessed.’”

And the hadith:

“When Allah created Adam, He passed His Hand over his back.”

He cited other hadiths of this kind as well. Then al-Bayhaqī said:

“As for the early generations of this community, they did not interpret the verses and reports we have recorded in this chapter.”

He said the same regarding rising over the Throne and the other attributes known through revelation, although he relates the views of some later scholars.

Judge Abū Yaʿlā said in his book Ibtāl al-Taʾwīl (The Refutation of Figurative Interpretation):

“These reports must neither be rejected nor subjected to figurative interpretation. Rather, they must be understood according to their apparent meaning: they describe attributes of Allah that do not resemble the attributes of any created beings described by them. No resemblance to creation is to be believed concerning them; rather, they are to be understood in accordance with what has been transmitted from Imam Ahmad and the other imams.”

He cited some statements on this subject by al-Zuhrī, Makhūl, Mālik, al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, al-Layth, Hammād ibn Zayd, Hammād ibn Salamah, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, al-Fudayl ibn ʿIyād, Wakīʿ, ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, al-Aswad ibn Sālim, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū ʿUbayd, Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī, and others. Quoting their exact words would take considerable space.