or to eyes, which are likewise bodily members and instruments of action. We affirm them only because the revealed texts have mentioned them, and we must deny all resemblance with respect to them on the strength of His words, “There is nothing like unto Him” ⦗Q 42:11⦘ and “Nor is there anyone comparable to Him” ⦗Q 112:4⦘.

A leading authority before al-Khatib voiced the same position, and this, to the best of my knowledge, is the doctrine of the early generations. Taking the wording at its apparent sense means that the terms of the Book and the Sunnah have no hidden, esoteric layer beyond the meanings for which they were coined, just as Malik and others said: “Establishment (istiwaʾ) is known.” The same is true of hearing, sight, knowledge, speech, will, face, and the like. Their meanings are clear and need no further exposition, whereas the “how” of all of them is unknown to us. Allah knows best.

Al-Khatib—may Allah have mercy on him—was a second al-Daraqutni; after him Baghdad produced no one his equal in mastery of this discipline. He died in 463 AH, and his first auditions of hadith date from shortly after 400 AH.

304 – The compiler quoted this passage in abridged form; its full text appears in al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s treatise al-Sifat, preserved in the Zahiri Library, Majmuʿ 16/43–44.