that the claim of the Jahmiyyah and others that an unending succession of acts and events is impossible is false, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

The point here is that these people do not regard Him as capable of these acts, which are the very foundation of action. Thus, on their view, He would not have power over anything—indeed, over nothing at all.

He has said:

“They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves.”

Ibn ʿAbbās said, in the report transmitted from him by al-Wālibī: “This concerns the disbelievers. Whoever believes that Allah has power over all things has esteemed Allah as He deserves.”

In explaining His words, “They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves,” commentators have said: “They have not known Him as He should be known, magnified Him as He should be magnified, or described Him as He truly is.” Allah uses this expression in three places: to refute those who deny His attributes, those who associate partners with Him, and those who deny that He has sent down any revelation to human beings. He says in al-Anʿām:

“They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves when they said, ‘Allah has revealed nothing to any human being.’”

He says in al-Hajj:

“Indeed, those whom you invoke besides Allah…”

—through to His words, exalted is He—

“They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves. Indeed, Allah is Powerful, Almighty.”

And He says in al-Zumar:

“They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves, while the whole earth will be in His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand. Glory be to Him, and exalted is He above what they associate with Him.”

It is established in the two Sahīh collections, in a hadith narrated by Ibn Masʿūd:

“A Jewish scholar said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘O Muhammad, on the Day of Resurrection Allah will place the heavens upon