through His creation of the world any attribute that He did not possess when no world existed. Thus, while the world exists, hold the same belief in His transcendence that you hold when there is no world and nothing besides Him.”

This statement expresses the position of many speculative theologians within the Muslim community. Had he remained consistent in this position, his statement would have been of the same kind as those of others. But he contradicts himself. Hence the wicked al-Tilimsānī, leader of the proponents of divine identity, refutes him wherever he approaches the position of the Muslims, just as the Muslims refute him wherever he departs into the doctrine of identity between Allah and creation.

The actual hadith transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the one recorded by al-Bukhārī from Imrān ibn Husayn, who reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah existed, and nothing existed before Him. His Throne was upon the water, and He wrote everything in the Record, then created the heavens and the earth.”

By this heretical addition—“and He is now as He was then”—the speculative theologians who adopted Jahmī doctrine intended to deny the attributes with which Allah described Himself, such as His rising over the Throne, His descent to the lowest heaven, and others. They said: “In eternity past, He was not over the Throne, and He is now as He was then. Therefore, He cannot be over the Throne, since that would entail transition and change.”

The people of the Sunnah who affirm the divine attributes answer them with two well-known replies. The first is that what newly arises is a relation and relative attribution between Him and the Throne, comparable to His being with