The first is that what is meant is the affirmation of His command and the coming of His command.

The second is that what is meant is His purpose and intent. These scholars likewise interpreted His words, Exalted is He:

“Then He turned to the heaven while it was smoke.”

They said this means that He directed His purpose and intent toward it. This is the interpretation of a group of scholars of the Arabic language, including Abū Muhammad Abd Allāh ibn Qutaybah. He mentioned it in his book, “Mukhtalif al-Hadīth” (Discrepant Hadiths), in which he refuted the speculative theologians who impugn hadith. He said:

They said: “A hadith involving the likening of Allah to His creation, contradicted by the Quran and scholarly consensus.”

They said: “You have narrated that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Allah, Blessed and Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven during the last third of the night and says: “Is there anyone calling upon Me, that I may answer him, or seeking My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?”’ And that ‘He descends to the people at Arafah on the afternoon of the Day of Arafah,’ and ‘He descends on the night of the middle of Sha‘bān.’ This contradicts His words, Exalted is He: ‘There is no private conversation among three but He is their fourth, nor among five but He is their sixth, nor among fewer or more than that but He is with them wherever they may be,’ and His words: ‘It is He who is God in heaven and God on earth.’ People have unanimously agreed that He is in every place and that no affair distracts Him from another.”

We say concerning His words, “There is no private conversation among three but He is their fourth,” that He is with them through His knowledge of their circumstances. It is like your saying to a man whom you have sent to a distant land and entrusted with some business of yours: