one group says: “Their apparent meaning, befitting Allah’s majesty, may be intended; or what is intended may not be an attribute of Allah,” and so forth. This is the approach of many jurists and others. Another group refrains from all of this and does no more than recite the Quran and read hadith, turning their hearts and tongues away from these suppositions. No one can fall outside these “six categories.”

The correct position regarding many verses and hadiths concerning the divine attributes is to adhere with certainty to the established approach, as with the verses and hadiths indicating that Allah—glorified and exalted is He—is above His Throne. The correct approach in this and similar matters is known through the evidence of the Quran, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus—evidence that admits no contrary conclusion. With some of these texts, however, this may be judged more likely, while the contrary remains possible. A believer’s uncertainty in such matters depends on the knowledge and faith he has been granted. Whoever Allah does not grant light has no light.

Anyone who is uncertain about this or anything else should offer the supplication narrated by Muslim in his Sahīh from ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said:

“When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose to pray at night, he would say: ‘O Allah, Lord of Gabriel, Michael, and Isrāfīl, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen! You judge between Your servants concerning that over which they differ. Guide me, by Your permission, to the truth concerning which they have differed. Indeed, You guide whom You will to a straight path.’”

A version narrated by Abū Dāwūd states: “He would say ‘Allah is greatest’ in his prayer, then recite this supplication.”