He said:

“It is reported from Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak and other scholars of the Sunnah that, concerning these verses about the ambiguous attributes, they said: ‘Let them stand as they have come, without specifying how.’”

Concerning His words,

“Are they waiting for anything but for Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds?”

he said:

“The preferable course concerning this verse and others like it is to believe in their apparent meaning, entrust knowledge concerning them to Allah, and believe that Allah is free of the characteristics of created things. This was the path followed by the leading scholars of the early generations and the scholars of the Sunnah.”

Al-Kalbī said:

“This belongs to the concealed matters that are not to be explained.”

(I say: It has also been related from him that, in explaining His words, “Then He rose,” he said: “He settled.” Thus, he explained that passage but regarded this one as belonging to the concealed matters that are not to be explained. For that passage describes Him as being above the Throne, whereas this one describes His coming in canopies of clouds.

Al-Baghawī said:

“Makhūl, al-Zuhrī, al-Awzāʿī, Mālik, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Ahmad and Ishāq used to say concerning this and similar passages: ‘Let them stand as they have come, without specifying how.’”

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah said:

“Whatever Allah has used to describe Himself in His Book, its explanation consists in reciting it and remaining silent about it. No one has the right to explain it except Allah and His Messenger.”