nor are they fit for honor in any way, and there is no text from the Book or a reliable sunnah in this regard that indicates the gathering of other than them from the wild animals. Although the report of Muslim and al-Tirmidhī is authentic, it was not presented as an explanation of the verse, and it may be an allegory for perfect justice. I incline towards this view, but I do not assert the error of those who hold the first opinion because they have a basis that is valid in general. And Allāh, the Exalted, knows best. I said: This is what he said—may Allāh forgive us and him—and it is very strange from him because it contradicts what we know of him in his mentioned book, where he follows the straightforward path in interpreting the verses of the Book according to the way of the predecessors, without interpretation or negation. So what led him here to interpret the ḥadīth contrary to its apparent meaning and to consider it an allegory for perfect justice? Is this not a denial of the ḥadīth that explicitly states that the hornless sheep will be recompensed from the horned sheep, and yet he follows the theologians in saying it is an allegory! That is, the hornless sheep will not be recompensed. All of this is said if we limit our consideration to the mentioned narration of Muslim. However, if we move to other narrations, such as the ḥadīth of the translation and the ḥadīth of Abū Dharr and others, they are definitive that the retribution mentioned is a reality and not an allegory. May Allāh have mercy on Imām al-Nawawī, for he indicated with his previous statement: "If a term of the sharīʿah is mentioned and there is no rational or sharīʿah-based prevention from applying it to its apparent meaning, it must be taken at its apparent meaning." I said: He indicated by this the rejection of the aforementioned interpretation, and with such interpretations, the philosophers and many theologians like the Muʿtazilah and others denied the believers' vision of their Lord on the Day of Judgment, His being above His Throne, His descent to the lowest heaven every night, and His coming on the Day of Judgment. And other such verses and ḥadīths of the attributes. In summary, the view that animals will be gathered and some will be recompensed from others is the correct one, which cannot be otherwise. It is no wonder that the majority adopted this view, as al-Alūsī himself mentioned elsewhere in his "Tafsīr" (9/281), and it was affirmed by al-Shawkānī in his interpretation of the verse of "al-Takwīr" in his "Fatḥ al-Qadīr," where he said (5/377):