al-Irada, al-Saffarini says is the inclination of one’s heart to do or leave something.
Ash’aris do not believe that, but they still literally believe that Allah has al-Irada.
This shows us that there is a difference between al-Irada, and its definition: ‘The inclination of one’s heart to do or leave something’.
The Ash’aris affirm the literal meaning of al-Irada, while negating the definition of al-Irada for that is only suitable to human beings.
Replace al-Irada with al-Yad, and you will get the answer of how to believe in the Yad of Allah.
Ash’aris often confuse this and try to refer to the definition with respect to a human hand made of flesh and bones as being the ‘literal meaning’.
Yad literally means a Yad. If we did not know what Yad meant, we could not have rendered into English as a Hand, let alone Attribute to Allah something we do not understand!
As al-Khattabi and al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi said, we believe in the dhaahir, the literal meaning of these texts without delving into modality.
This principle is universally applicable to all of Attributes, and therefore, we remain consistent through out and faithful to the text and reason.
The latter Ash’aris, on the other hand, only believe in the literal meaning of seven attributes, despite the fact that these attributes are shared by the creation, while negating the literal meaning of other attributes, and therefore, being rationally inconsistent and unfaithful to the texts.
The Ash’ari objections against the attributes Ahlus-Sunnah affirm literally are equally applicable to the attrubites you affirm literally.
An example of that is al-Irada.
This is precisely why the Mu’tazilas call Ash’aris anthropomorphist, because they affirm qualities for Allah that exist in His creation.
This should highlight to us the problems with varying unstable principles, and the need for universal guidelines to adhere to such that we are rationally and textually consistent throughout.