And He posed rhetorical questions emphatically denying them the means of complete perception—hearing and sight—and complete action—the hand and foot. Likewise, He, glorified be He, spoke of those He loves, who draw near to Him through voluntary acts of worship, in the report transmitted from Him by His Messenger:
“My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts of worship until I love him. When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks.”
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The people of the Sunnah and the Community, who follow Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them all—affirm what these prophets affirmed: Allah’s speaking, His love, His mercy, and all His most beautiful names and highest attributes. They declare Him free from resemblance to lifeless bodies. For Allah said:
“We placed upon his throne a body; then he turned in repentance.”
And He said:
“We did not make them bodies that ate no food.”
And He said:
“A calf—a bodily form that lowed.”
Thus He described the bodily form as lacking life, for lifeless things neither hear nor see nor speak, nor are they of any avail.
As for the people of innovation and misguidance, such as the Jahmiyyah and others like them, they followed