of the soil, and fermented it for forty consecutive mornings (1) [1b]; then from it, He created Adam with His own Hand,
(p. 22): "And according to al-Ash'ari, whoever believes that Allah is in the heaven by His Essence is a disbeliever." End quote.
Some of their statements regarding this were previously cited in the Introduction (p. 39).
The point is that the term "by His Essence" (bi-dhatih) is among those terms which the People of the Sunnah agreed upon uttering to establish the reality of the Ascension (al-istiwa') for Allah the Exalted, and not that it is metaphorical as the Jahmite Divesters (al-Mu'attilah) claim.
It is like the term "distinct from His creation" (ba’in min khalqihi); the People of the Sunnah only uttered it for further clarification and to vex the Jahmite Divesters who affirm the words without the [underlying] realities and meanings.
Ibn Abi Hatim (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that Hisham ibn 'Ubaydullah al-Razi, the judge—the companion of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—imprisoned a man for Jahmism. The man repented and was brought to Hisham to be tested. Hisham said: "Praise be to Allah for the repentance. Do you testify that Allah is over His Throne, distinct from His creation?"
The man replied: "I testify that Allah is over His Throne, but I do not know what 'distinct from His creation' means."
Hisham said: "Return him to prison, for he has not repented." [Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyyah (1/440)].
(1) He refers to the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Allah fermented the clay of Adam for forty days—or forty nights—then He moved His Hand like this, and there came out in His right hand everything good, and in the other everything evil..." the Hadith.
It was narrated by al-Daraqutni in al-Afrad (2221) as a marfu’ report. He said: "Yahya ibn Kathir Abu al-Nadr al-Basri al-Taymi and ‘Asim were alone in narrating it as marfu’. It was also narrated by ‘Amr ibn ‘Ali, from Mu'tamir, from Yazid ibn Zuray‘, Yahya ibn Sa‘id, and Mu'adh ibn Mu'adh, from al-Taymi from him, from Salman or Ibn Mas‘ud, who said: 'Allah, Mighty and Majestic, fermented the clay of Adam.'" This is what is preserved as a mawquf report.
He said in al-’Ilal (5/338): "Sulayman al-Taymi narrated it from Abu ‘Uthman al-Nahdi from Salman or Ibn Mas‘ud as mawquf, and that is the correct version; whoever raised it to a marfu’ status has erred." End quote.
The mawquf version was narrated by al-Darimi in al-Naqd (52), al-Ajurri in al-Shari’ah (431), Abu al-Shaykh in al-‘Azamah (1006), Ibn Mandah in al-Tawhid (484), and al-Faryabi in al-Qadar (10) from Salman or ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with them), with the narrator expressing doubt as to which one.
