which is precisely what is intended by it. This is as one of the early scholars explained His words:

“Every announcement has its appointed fulfillment.”

He said: “A reality.” For if the speech is a report, it ultimately leads and refers back to the reality being reported. Otherwise, it would have no reality, outcome, or point of reference, but would instead be false. If it is a request, it ultimately leads and refers back to the reality being sought, even if its object does not exist and has not been realized. Whenever a report is a promise or a threat, it ultimately leads to the reality sought and awaited. Thus, it is reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited this verse:

“Say: He has the power to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, or to divide you into factions.”

He said: “It will indeed come to pass, but its fulfillment has not yet come.”

It is also reported that ʿAbd Allāh said: “Five have already come to pass: the onslaught, the inevitable punishment, the smoke, the moon, and the Romans.”

Section

As for including Allah’s names and attributes, or some of them, among the ambiguous passages whose ta’wīl is known only to Allah—or believing that these constitute the ambiguous passages whose ta’wīl Allah has reserved to Himself—each of these two views is held by groups among our companions and others. Although they are correct in much of what they say and have escaped innovations into which others have fallen, this matter must be discussed from two perspectives.

First: To anyone who says, “This belongs to the ambiguous passages, and its meaning cannot be understood,” we say: As for the evidence that this is false, I know of no one among the early generations of this community or its leading scholars—neither Ahmad ibn Hanbal nor anyone else—who classified this among the ambiguous passages