And they say that His words,

“And no one knows its interpretation except Allah,”

indicate that only Allah knows the meaning of the ambiguous passages; that hadiths, like the Quran, contain ambiguous passages; and that this is one of those ambiguous hadiths. Their position therefore entails that the Messenger who uttered the hadith of the descent did not himself know what he was saying or what his words meant—even though he himself was the one who spoke them in the first place. Could any reasonable person think this of any rational human being, let alone the prophets, let alone the best of all people, past and future, the most knowledgeable and eloquent of all creation, and the most sincere in his counsel to creation—may Allah bless him and grant him peace?

Yet they claim to be the people of the Sunnah, and claim that this position, by which they characterize the Messenger and his community, is the position of the people of the Sunnah. Undoubtedly, they have not grasped the true nature of what they have said or its implications. Had they grasped this, they would have realized that their position entails some of the most abhorrent things disbelievers say about the prophets. Yet they do not approve of the statements of anyone who disparages the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. If anyone disparaged him, they would deem it lawful to kill him—and they are correct in deeming it lawful to kill anyone who maligns the prophets, peace be upon them. Their own position, however, entails the gravest disparagement, though they have not recognized this. An implication of a person’s position is not itself that person’s position: had they known that this followed from their position, they would not have accepted it.

“A second group” of those who liken Allah to His creation saw that the first group’s position was objectionable and that the words of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were true. They then made similarly ignorant assertions: that one heaven comes to be above Him and another beneath Him, or that the heavens rise and then return, and other such claims whose falsity is evident to anyone with the slightest reason and understanding.