He said: In the seventh heaven, over His Throne, with a limit.
Aḥmad said: This is how it is with us.
19- Al-Khallāl said: al-Ḥasan b. Ṣāliḥ al-ʿAṭṭār informed us, [9/b] Hārūn b. Yaʿqūb al-Hāshimī narrated to us, he said: I heard my father say: [We were] with Abū ʿAbd Allāh, and we asked him about the statement of Ibn al-Mubārak: He established Himself over the Throne with a limit.
He — meaning: Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal — said: This has supporting evidences from the Qurʾān in five places: {To Him ascends good speech} [Fāṭir: 10],
{Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven} [al-Mulk: 16],
{The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him} [al-Maʿārij: 4] (1).
And Imam Aḥmad said previously: {Do they await but that God should come to them in canopies of clouds} [al-Baqara: 210],
{And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank} [al-Fajr: 22].
Meaning: These verses indicate that God, Mighty and Majestic, established Himself over His Throne
So we said to him: "What is the meaning of Ibn al-Mubārak's statement 'with Al-Ḥadd'?" He said: "I do not know it; but this has supporting evidences from the Qurʾān in five places: {To Him ascends good speech}, {Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven}, {The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him}, and He is over the Throne and His knowledge is with everything." End quote.
His statement: "(I do not know it)" will be followed in the appendix of the book (p. 314) by Ibn Taymiyya's commentary on it.
