a Jewish man, who said:

‘O Muhammad, Allah places the heavens on one finger, the earths on one finger, the mountains on one finger, the water and moist earth on one finger, and the rest of creation on one finger. Then He shakes them, saying, “I am the King! I am the King!”’

He said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, laughed until his molar teeth showed, confirming the rabbi’s words. Then he recited:

‘They have not appraised Allah with His true appraisal, while the earth entirely will be within His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand’—to the end of the verse.”

This verse and the authentic hadiths explaining it—widely transmitted reports whose authenticity the scholars have unanimously affirmed and which they have received with acceptance—make clear that the heavens, the earth, and everything between them are so small in relation to the greatness of Allah Most High that, when He grasps them, they are no more than a small object in the hand of one of us, such that He tosses them as a ball is tossed.

The imam ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Salamah al-Mājishūn, a peer of Mālik, said in his well-known discourse in which he refuted the Jahmiyyah, those who opposed them, and those who reinterpreted his words:

“As for the one who denies what the Lord has said of Himself, out of excessive speculation and affectation, the devils have lured him away, leaving him bewildered on earth. He then proceeds, as he claims, to argue for denying the descriptions and names the Lord has given Himself, saying: ‘If He has such-and-such, He must necessarily have such-and-such.’

Thus, the obscure has blinded him to the clear. Because the Lord remained silent about attributes He did not name, he denied those that the Lord did name concerning Himself. Satan continued to lead him on until he denied the words of Allah Most High:

‘Faces that Day will be radiant, looking at their Lord.’

He said: ‘No one will see Him on the Day of Resurrection.’ By Allah, he has thereby denied the greatest honor Allah has accorded His close servants on the Day of Resurrection: beholding His Face, and His bestowing radiance upon