Ahmad in The Book of the Ordeal: he said this while debating them during the ordeal, when they argued against him by citing the statement, “Al-Baqarah and Āl Imrān will come.” They said, “Only something created can come.” Ahmad countered them with Allah’s words:

“And your Lord comes,”

and:

“Or your Lord should come.”

He said that “Al-Baqarah and Āl Imrān will come” means their reward, just as “And your Lord comes” means His command and His power.

Ahmad’s followers differed over what Hanbal transmitted. There is no doubt that it contradicts the statements transmitted from Ahmad through numerous independent chains, in which he prohibited figurative interpretation of this, of the descent, of rising over the Throne, and of other such actions. They held three views.

The first was that this was an error unique to Hanbal, not shared by those who recounted Ahmad’s debate, such as Sālih, Abd Allāh, al-Marwadhī, and others. They did not mention this. Hanbal does transmit certain reports alone in which a number of scholars, such as al-Khallāl and his associate, judge him to have erred.

Abū Ishāq Ibn Shāqlā said: “This is undoubtedly an error on Hanbal’s part.”

Similarly, a report was transmitted from Mālik that he interpreted “He descends to the lowest heaven” as meaning that His command descends. However, this was transmitted by his scribe Habīb, whom they unanimously considered a liar. It has also been transmitted through another route, but that chain of transmission is unknown.

The second view: a group of Ahmad’s followers said that he stated this in order to bind his opponent