In sum, the possible approaches to the Quranic verses and hadiths concerning the divine attributes fall into “six categories,” each followed by a group among the people of the qiblah. “Two categories” hold that these texts are to be understood according to their apparent meanings; “two categories” hold that their intended meanings differ from their apparent meanings; and “two categories” remain silent.

The first two categories are as follows:

The first consists of those who understand these texts according to their apparent meanings, while taking those meanings to describe attributes of the same kind as those of created beings. These are the proponents of likening Allah to His creation. Their position is false and was condemned by the early generations; it is against them that refutation is rightly directed.

The second consists of those who understand these texts according to their apparent meanings in a manner befitting Allah’s majesty, just as they understand the apparent meanings of the names “the All-Knowing,” “the All-Powerful,” “the Lord,” “God,” “the Existent,” “the Essence,” and the like in a manner befitting Allah’s majesty. For the apparent meanings of these attributes, when applied to a created being, denote either a created substance or an accident subsisting in it.

Thus, knowledge, power, speech, will, mercy, pleasure, anger, and the like are accidents when attributed to a servant, whereas his face, hand, and eye are bodies. Thus, if