and saw that most of its inhabitants were the poor, and I looked into the Fire and saw that most of its inhabitants were women,” that his looking into them was through thought and directed attention, that would be acceptable.

I say:

Interpreting coming, arrival, descent, and similar expressions as meaning purpose, intention, and the like is the position of one group. They adopted this interpretation for His words, exalted be He:

“Then He turned towards the heaven.”

Ibn al-Zāghūnī and others regarded this as one of the two positions reported from Ahmad.

The correct view, however, is that all these interpretations are innovations. None of the Companions, nor any of those who followed them in righteousness, expressed any of them. They contradict what is well known and transmitted through numerous independent reports from the leading authorities of the Sunnah and hadith, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal and other leading authorities of the Sunnah.

Yet some who engage in unsound interpretations seize upon expressions attributed to certain leading authorities that are either erroneous or distorted. As mentioned earlier, some interpreted the statement of al-Awzā‘ī and other leading authorities of the early generations concerning the descent—“Allah does whatever He wills”—as meaning that the descent is a created effect separate from Allah, claiming that this was what they intended by saying, “Allah does whatever He wills.” This is not the case, as already indicated.

[Others, such as al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā in Ibtāl al-Ta’wīl (The Refutation of Figurative Interpretation), said that al-Awzā‘ī did not mean that the descent is one of the attributes of action; rather, what he intended by these words was his statement, “Allah does whatever He wills.” They compared this (*) to His words, exalted be He:

“They say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’ Glory be to Him! Rather,