with a limit, and He, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows His limit.
So whoever claims that God established Himself over the Throne contrary to what is settled in the hearts of the common people has committed disbelief and apostatized from the religion of Islam (1).
Notes
- (1) It was said to Yazīd b. Hārūn (d. 206 AH), may Allah have mercy on him: "Who are the Jahmiyya?" He said: "Whoever claims that the Most Merciful established Himself over the Throne contrary to what is settled in the hearts of the common people is a Jahmī." [Narrated by al-Bukhārī in Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād (63), and ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad in Al-Sunna (56 and 1087)].
- And Bayān b. Aḥmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: We were with al-Qaʿnabī, and he heard a man from the Jahmiyya saying: "{The Most Merciful established Himself over the Throne}: He conquered (istawlā)." So al-Qaʿnabī said: "Whoever is not certain that the Most Merciful established Himself over the Throne as is settled in the hearts of the common people is a Jahmī." [Ijtimaʿ al-Juyūsh (p. 135)].
- Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "And what is settled in the hearts of the common people is what God Almighty has naturally disposed the creation upon, of turning to their Lord Almighty during calamities, hardships, Supplication, and desires towards Him Almighty, towards the highness, not turning right or left, without anyone making them stand upon it; rather, it is the natural disposition of God upon which He created people, and there is no newborn except that he is born upon this natural disposition until whoever is destined for him makes him a Jahmī and transfers him to divestment (taʿṭīl)..." End quote from Ijtimaʿ al-Juyūsh by Ibn al-Qayyim (p. 214).
- Ibn Khuzayma, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Whoever does not acknowledge that God Almighty has established Himself over His Throne above His seven heavens is a disbeliever in his Lord. He is asked to repent; if he repents, [he is spared], otherwise his neck is struck, and he is thrown onto some garbage dumps so that the Muslims and the covenanted non-Muslims are not harmed by the foul stench of his corpse, and his wealth becomes spoils (fayʾ) which no one from the Muslims inherits, since a Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever as he, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said." [Maʿrifat ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (p. 125)].
- Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Darʾ al-Taʿāruḍ (7/26): "The view that God Almighty is above the world is known by necessity from the Book, the Sunna, and the consensus of the Predecessors of the Umma after pondering that... And the Mutawatir hadiths from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, the Companions, and the Successors are in agreement with that, and for this reason
