Where are the arrogant?’” Muslim narrated a fuller version, mentioning that He takes the earth in His other hand.

Ibn Abī Hātim narrated: My father narrated to us; ‘Amr ibn Rāfi‘ narrated to us; Ya‘qūb ibn ‘Abd Allāh narrated to us, from Ja‘far, from Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr, who said:

“The Jews spoke about the attributes of the Lord, blessed and exalted is He, saying things they neither knew nor had seen. Then Allah revealed to His Prophet:

‘They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves, though the entire 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! Exalted is He above what they associate with Him!’

“He thus deemed the description they gave of Him to be an act of associating partners with Him.”

He also narrated: My father narrated to us; Abū Nu‘aym narrated to us; al-Hakam—meaning Abū Mu‘ādh—narrated to us, from al-Hasan, who said:

“The Jews set about examining the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the angels. When they had finished, they began to estimate His greatness. Then Allah Most High revealed to His Prophet:

‘They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves.’”

This indicates that He is greater than they described Him to be, and that they did not esteem Him as He deserves.

As for His words, “above what they associate with Him”: anyone who makes a created being equal to the Creator in any respect—loving it as he loves the Creator, or describing it in the same terms as the Creator—is associating partners with Allah. He has equated Allah with a created being in some respect and thus set up an equal to his Lord. The Lord Most High has no equal, no peer, and none like Him. And whoever