A related question concerns the attributes involving movement, such as coming, arrival, and descent: are they to be interpreted as meaning the coming of His power and His command? Two positions are reported:

The first is that they mean the coming of His power. This is Hanbal’s report concerning the ordeal.

The second is that they are to be accepted as they have come, like the other attributes. This is the apparent position of the school, well known among our scholars. Some held that Hanbal had erred; others said that Ahmad had said this to argue against his opponents on their own premises. Still others, such as Ibn al-Zāghūnī, treated it as a report confined to this particular case, whereas Ibn ‘Aqīl extended it to all the other attributes.

This principle has ramifications for most questions concerning the divine attributes, especially speech, will, and the attributes connected with His will, such as descent and rising over the Throne. It was the cause of the dispute between the imam of imams, Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah, and a group of his distinguished companions.