and we supposed that the rope passed through the centre of the earth. Allah has power over all of this. On this supposition, it makes no difference in relation to Him whether He passes the rope through from our right to our left, from in front of us to behind us, or from above our heads to beneath our feet, when the rope passes through the earth. In every supposed case, He has passed the rope from one side of the encompassing sphere to the other, passing through the centre. On the supposition that His grasp encompasses the heavens and the earth, the rope with which He is supposed to have passed through the universe would reach Him. None of this, in relation to Him, is called a lowering or a descent.

In relation to us, however, what is beneath our feet is below us, and what is above our heads is above us. Whatever we lower from the direction of our heads towards our feet, we imagine to be descending. Thus, if one of us were supposed to lower a rope, it would descend upon whatever was there. Yet this is a supposition that is impossible for us to realize. Its purpose is to illustrate the encompassing nature of the Creator—glorified and exalted be He—just as He has explained that He grasps the heavens and folds up the earth, and other such matters that illustrate His encompassment of created things. This is why, at the conclusion of this hadith, he recited:

“He is the First and the Last, the Most High and the Most Near, and He has knowledge of all things.”

All of this, however, assumes that the hadith is authentic. For when al-Tirmidhī narrated it, he said:

“Some hadith scholars interpreted it as meaning that it descended upon Allah’s knowledge.”

Some proponents of divine indwelling and union imagine that this hadith supports their false doctrine: that He dwells in His essence in every place, that His existence is the very existence of places, and similar claims.

The correct conclusion is that the hadith, if authentic, indicates none of this. For his statement: