from His creation (1).
Ḥarb said: I said to Isḥāq: [Over] (2) the Throne with a limit?
He said: Yes, and he mentioned [from] (3) Ibn al-Mubārak, he said: He is over His Throne, separate from His creation with a limit (4).
Notes
- (1) Abū ʿUmar al-Ṭalamankī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The Muslims among the people of the Sunna have reached a consensus that the meaning of His statement, the Exalted: {And He is with you wherever you are}, and similar passages from the Qur'an, is that this refers to His knowledge, and that God is above the heavens in His Essence, established over His Throne however He wills. End quote. Al-ʿUluww by al-Dhahabī (566). And his statement: (distinct from His creation) is among the things the people of the Sunna have explicitly stated as an addition in clarification, and as a refutation against those who deny [His] elevation. Among that is: What Ibn Abī Ḥātim, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated that Hishām b. ʿUbayd Allāh al-Rāzī the judge — the companion of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan — imprisoned a man for Jahmism. He repented, so he was brought to Hishām to be tested. He said: Praise be to God for the repentance. Do you testify that God is over His Throne, distinct from His creation? He said: I testify that God is over His Throne, but I do not know what 'distinct from His creation' means. So he said: Return him to the prison, for he has not repented. [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (1/440)]. Ibn Baṭṭa, may Allah have mercy on him, said in al-Ibāna al-Kubrā (2655): (Chapter on the faith that God is over His Throne, distinct from His creation, and His knowledge encompasses His creation): The Muslims among the Companions, the Successors, and all the people of knowledge among the believers have reached a consensus that God, Mighty and Majestic, is over His Throne, above His heavens, distinct from His creation, and His knowledge encompasses all of His creation. No one rejects that or denies it except one who adopts the doctrine of the incarnationists (Ḥulūliyya) ... and says: God's Essence is such that no place is devoid of Him. End quote.
- (2) Omitted from the original manuscript. It is found in al-Harawī's Dhamm al-Kalām, and the context indicates it; because Isḥāq adduced the statement of Ibn al-Mubārak as evidence while speaking about the limit of God, Mighty and Majestic, not about the limit of His Throne.
- (3) Omitted from the original manuscript, and it is established in al-Ibāna al-Kubrā and Dhamm al-Kalām.
- (4) Narrated by Ḥarb in the book al-Sunna (336) with my editing.
