and a corporealist as well, because of the illusion he harboured that Allah’s attributes resemble the attributes of His creation. He failed to see that the description applies more aptly to himself: he was the one who first likened, then proceeded to negate. There is no power nor might except through Allah.
The Imām of the imams, champion of the Sunnah, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Khuzaymah—may Allah have mercy on him—said in his refutation of the Jahmites and their followers, those who claim that affirming the divine attributes entails resemblance; we cite here an abridged passage of his words on the matter:
He said: “The Jahmites—may Allah’s curses be upon them—have alleged that the People of the Sunnah, the transmitters of the reports, those who speak on the basis of their Lord’s Book and their Prophet’s Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him), who affirm for Allah the attributes with which He described Himself in His clear Revelation recorded between the two covers, and on the tongue of His chosen Prophet through sound chains of transmission reaching him, are anthropomorphists,¹ out of their ignorance of our Lord’s Book, our Prophet’s Sunnah, and their scant knowledge of the language in which we have been addressed … .”
He then said: “We, along with all our scholars in every land, declare that our object of worship, Allah, possesses a Face, as He has informed us in His decisive Revelation. He ennobled that Face with majesty and honour, decreed for it everlastingness, and denied that it should ever perish. We further declare that the Face of our Lord is endowed with such light, radiance, and splendour that, were He to lift His veil, the brilliant rays of His Face would burn up everything His sight reaches. … And we declare that the children of Adam have faces upon which Allah has decreed destruction; that the faces of the children of Adam are originated and created—they did not exist, then Allah brought them into being after they were nothing; that all human faces are perishable, not abiding: they will all become lifeless, then dust and decay, after which Allah will recreate them once they have turned to dust, and they will then end up either in a blissful Paradise or in a Fire wherein they are tormented.”
So, O people of discernment, could it ever occur to an intelligent person endowed with reason and who understands the Arabic language