the Book and the authentic reports of the Sunnah. The leading scholars of the early generations, however, refrained from interpreting these expressions beyond their apparent meanings, left them as they occur in the texts, and entrusted their meanings to the Lord.”

He then said:

“The position we approve and hold as our belief before Allah is to follow the early generations of the Muslim community. The decisive evidence from revelation for this is the community’s consensus, which is binding proof and the foundation of most of the Sharia. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, consistently refrained from addressing their meanings or seeking to fathom their contents. They were the finest of the Muslims and bore the responsibilities of the Sharia, sparing no effort to establish the principles of the faith accurately, exhort one another to preserve them, and teach people what they needed to know of them.

“If interpreting these expressions beyond their apparent meanings had been permissible or obligatory, their concern for them would very likely have exceeded their concern for the subsidiary rulings of the Sharia. If their age and that of the Successors passed without their engaging in such interpretation, then that is the course to follow. A religious person must therefore believe that the Creator is exalted above the attributes of created beings, refrain from delving into the interpretation of difficult passages, and entrust their meaning to the Lord Most High. He should accordingly treat the verse concerning Allah’s rising over the Throne and His coming, and His words:

‘what I created with My two hands,’

‘And there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor,’

and His words:

‘Sailing under Our eyes,’

as well as the authentic reports from the Messenger, such as the report concerning Allah’s descent and others, in the manner we have described.”

I say:

The questioner should understand that the purpose “of this answer” is to cite the words of some of the leading scholars who transmitted the position of the early generations on this subject. Not everyone whose words we have quoted—whether among the theologians or others—agrees with everything we say on this subject or on other subjects. Nevertheless, the truth is accepted from whoever speaks it. Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal used to say in his remarks