these things and their counterparts in this world there is a similarity in wording and meaning. Nevertheless, their reality differs from that of their worldly counterparts, and we do not know that reality in this world. Allah Most High says:
“No soul knows what joy is kept hidden for them as a reward for what they used to do.”
And in an authentic hadith:
“Allah Most High says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has ever conceived.’”
These things that Allah has promised His believing servants, which no soul knows, belong to the ta’wīl known only to Allah. Likewise, none but Allah knows the time of the Hour and its signs. Nor does anyone but Allah know how the Reckoning, the Bridge, the Balance, the Cistern, reward and punishment will actually be. For this has not yet been created for the angels to know it, nor does it have a counterpart identical in every respect through which it could be known. Thus, it belongs to the ta’wīl of the ambiguous passages that none but Allah knows.
Likewise, regarding what the Lord has told us about Himself—such as His rising over His Throne, His hearing, His sight, His speech and so forth—none but Allah knows how these are. This is what Rabī‘ah ibn Abī ‘Abd al-Rahmān and Mālik ibn Anas stated, and the other scholars have accepted their words. When the question was put, “‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne’—how did He rise over it?” he replied:
“The rising over is known; how it is, is unknown. Belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation.”
This is Mālik’s wording. He stated that the rising over is known, which concerns the explanation of the wording, and that how it is remains unknown. This is the manner of being whose knowledge Allah has reserved for Himself.