anything weak in it. By contrast, qudsī ḥadīths may be transmitted according to their meaning; among them are weak reports, and among them are fabrications falsely attributed to the Messenger ﷺ—many, in fact. The essential point is that they do not share the rank of the Quran, even though one may say that the Prophet ﷺ relates them from his Lord.

Thus Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Might is My lower garment and majesty is My cloak.” This is one of the reports that must be accepted exactly as it has come from the Prophet ﷺ; its meaning is not to be distorted, nor are we to speculate about how it is so. Rather, we simply state: this is what Allah has said, as the Prophet ﷺ has conveyed from Him. Whoever contends with Allah for His might—seeking an authority like His—or contends with Him for His majesty and then behaves arrogantly toward His servants, Allah will punish him for what he has done, for he has challenged Allah in what belongs to Him alone.

The compiler—may Allah have mercy on him—then cited another narration from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A man was once walking in an elegant robe, admiring himself, with his hair carefully groomed, swaggering as he walked. Allah caused the earth to swallow him, and he continues to plunge through it until the Day of Resurrection.” The earth caved in beneath him, he sank down and was buried within it, and he will keep sinking until the Last Day, because—Allah’s refuge is sought—his arrogance, self-importance, and vanity led to his being swallowed up.

This is analogous to the case of Qārūn, mentioned by the author at the beginning of the chapter. Qārūn went forth before his people in all his finery: “Those who cared only for the life of this world said, ‘If only we had the like of what Qārūn has been given! He is indeed a man of great fortune.’ But those who had been given knowledge said …”