contrary to what Allah and His Messenger intended. When they reinterpret it, they say, “This verse means such and such.” Those who assign a modality affirm a particular “how,” claiming that they know the modality of the Lord’s attributes that have been reported. Ahmad therefore rejected both positions: that of those who claim to know the modality, and that of those who distort words from their proper places and say, “It means such and such.” I have recorded Ahmad’s statements verbatim elsewhere—as al-Khallāl recorded them in The Book of the Sunnah, and as others transmitted them with their chains of narration in works devoted to this subject.

He also explained that the term ta’wīl in the verse is intended only in its Quranic sense, as in the words of Allah, Exalted is He:

“Are they waiting for anything but its fulfillment? On the Day its fulfillment comes, those who had forgotten it before will say, ‘The messengers of our Lord did indeed come with the truth. Have we any intercessors, then, to intercede for us? Or could we be sent back to act differently from how we used to act?’”

Concerning His words, “Are they waiting for anything but its fulfillment?”, Ibn ‘Abbās said: “The fulfillment of what He promised in the Quran.” Qatādah said: “Its reward”; Mujāhid: “Its recompense”; al-Suddī: “Its outcome”; and Ibn Zayd: “Its reality.” Some said: “Its fulfillment is what their fate will come to: punishment and arrival at the Fire.”

And concerning His words, Exalted is He:

“Rather, they have denied what they have not encompassed in knowledge, and whose fulfillment has not yet come to them,”