Thus, those realities in the Hereafter are not identical to these realities in this world, although they resemble them in some respects and the terms apply to them literally. It is well known that the Creator is far further removed from resembling created beings. How, then, can anyone suppose that the names and attributes Allah Most High has affirmed for Himself involve any likeness to His creatures, or say that they do not apply literally? Who could be more entitled to these Most Beautiful Names and Most Exalted Attributes than the Lord of the heavens and the earth, when His distinctness from created things is greater than that of any created thing from another?

The ignorant person is misled by the speculative theologians’ claim: “The Arabs established the term istiwā’ (rising above) to denote a person’s settling upon a house or a vessel, or a ship’s coming to rest on Mount Jūdī, and similar instances of istiwā’ among created things.” This is like someone saying, “They established the terms hearing, sight, and speech only for what resides in an eyeball, eyelids, ear canals, an ear, and two lips.” This is religious error and falsehood. Or saying, “They established the terms mercy, knowledge, and will only for what resides in a lump of flesh and a heart.” All this reflects his ignorance.

For the Arabs assigned to a human being only what they expressly attributed to him. When they say, “The servant’s hearing, sight, speech, knowledge, will, and mercy,” these expressions, being qualified as his, denote attributes particular to the servant.

When one says, “Allah’s hearing, sight, speech, knowledge, will, and mercy,” these expressions denote what is particular to the Lord; nothing peculiar to created beings is included in them. Whoever supposes that this rising above, if understood literally, includes any attribute of created beings—even though the revealed text expressly attributes it to Allah—is profoundly ignorant of how language conveys meaning and of the distinction between literal and figurative usage.