, especially since this creates a favorable impression of everyone who claims that affiliation and opens doors to evil. The discussion concerns those who deny the apparent meaning of the attributes as understood in this sense.

I said to him:

When Allah describes Himself with an attribute, or His Messenger describes Him with it, or the believers—whose guidance and understanding the Muslims unanimously acknowledge—describe Him with it, diverting it from its apparent meaning, which befits the majesty of Allah, glorified be He, and from the literal meaning understood from it, to a hidden meaning contrary to its apparent meaning and a figurative sense incompatible with its literal meaning, requires four things:

First: The expression must admit of that figurative usage. The Quran, the Sunnah, and the speech of the early generations are in the Arabic language, and nothing in them may be understood in a manner contrary to Arabic usage or to the usage of all languages. That figurative sense must therefore be one that the expression can convey. Otherwise, anyone advancing falsehood could interpret any expression as whatever meaning occurred to him, even if it had no basis in the language.

Second: He must have evidence requiring the expression to be diverted from its literal meaning to its figurative meaning. Otherwise, when an expression is used literally in one sense and figuratively in another, all rational people agree that it may not be understood figuratively without evidence requiring that departure. If he claims that departing from its literal meaning is necessary, he must provide decisive evidence, whether rational or scriptural, requiring that departure. If he claims that departing from its literal meaning is the more likely interpretation, he must provide evidence favoring the figurative reading.

Third: The evidence requiring that departure must be free of countervailing evidence. Otherwise, if Quranic evidence or evidence grounded in faith establishes that the literal meaning is intended, it is impermissible