He also cited Ibn al-Zāghūnī, saying: Shaykh Alī ibn Ubayd Allāh al-Zāghūnī said:

“Our imam Ahmad’s statements concerning this coming differ, with two reports regarding whether it is understood in its apparent sense or admits of figurative interpretation. According to one report, it is understood in its apparent sense: that He Himself comes.

On this basis, he says:

Figurative interpretation does not apply. Nevertheless, His own coming must be understood only in a manner befitting Him. It has been established that affirming His coming is not to be understood as affirming a departure and movement that entail vacating one place and occupying another. Such coming is characteristic of created beings, which cannot encompass places and locations because these are larger and greater than they are. Their coming to those places requires moving from what is near to what is distant. This is impossible in the case of the Creator, Most High, because nothing is greater than Him. His coming does not require movement or departure, since neither the need for this nor what necessitates it exists in His case.

We therefore affirm coming as an attribute of His, while rejecting the supposition that what necessarily applies to created beings applies to Him, since they differ in their need for such movement. Another example is His saying:

‘And your Lord comes, with the angels in row upon row.’

Another example is the well-known hadith narrated by the Companions at large, in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

‘Allah descends to the lowest heaven every night when there remains a third of