and Exalted, have a limit?
He said: Yes [7/a]; no one knows it except Him. God Almighty said: {And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne} [al-Zumar: 75], he says: encircling (1).
Thus Aḥmad used the statement unrestrictedly affirming the limit for God Almighty.
And he negated it in the narration of Ḥanbal (2): and that is what His creation knows.
And the place where he used it unrestrictedly; is interpreted upon two meanings:
One of them: upon the meaning that He Almighty is in a specific direction, and He is not
Notes
- (1) This view is narrated from: Qatāda and al-Suddī, as in the Tafsir of al-Ṭabarī (24/37). Ibn Jarīr, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his Tafsir (24/38): "The scholars of the Arabic language differed regarding the reason for the inclusion of 'min' (from) in His statement: {surrounding the Throne} [lit. 'min ḥawl al-ʿarsh'], while the meaning is: surrounding the Throne... The correct view regarding this in my opinion is: that 'min' in these places... even if it enters upon adverbs of place, it is for the meaning of: emphasis." End quote. Al-Dārimī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyya (162): "The evidence for the statement of Ibn al-Mubārak, may Allah have mercy on him, is the statement of God Almighty: {And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne}. Why would they surround the Throne except because God Almighty is above it? If He were in every place, they would have surrounded all places, not the Throne exclusively. So in this is a clear clarification of Al-Ḥadd, and that God is above the Throne, and the angels are surrounding it, glorifying and sanctifying Him, and some of them carry His Throne." End quote.
- (2) He mentioned it in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt (552), saying: "(So he [meaning: Aḥmad] said: We believe that God is upon the Throne however He wills, and as He wills, without Al-Ḥadd, nor an attribute that a describer can reach, or that anyone can limit. Thus, he negated Al-Ḥadd from Him according to the mentioned attribute, which is Al-Ḥadd that His creation knows, and the place... etc. Then he mentioned the statement that al-Dashtī mentioned from him."
