23 - And Yūsuf informed us — by my reading [12/b] to him more than once — Abū al-Fatḥ Nāṣir b. Muḥammad al-Wīrī informed us — in Iṣbahān — Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. ʿUmar b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us, the Supporter of the Sunna: Abū Ismāʿīl ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Anṣārī, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated to us, he said:
(Chapter on affirming the limit for God Almighty) (1).
Ibn Baṭṭa, may Allah have mercy on him, refuted this specious argument, saying: (As for your statement: 'He cannot be over the Throne because He is greater than the Throne', God has willed to be over the Throne, and He is greater than it. God, the Exalted, said: {Then He directed Himself to the heaven} [al-Baqara: 29], and He said: {And He is God in the heavens}, then He said: {and on the earth. He knows} [al-Anʿām: 3]. So He informed that He is in the heaven, and that He is on the earth by His knowledge. And He said: {The Most Merciful is established over the Throne}.) Then he mentioned the evidences for the elevation of God, Mighty and Majestic.
Imam al-Dārimī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī (p. 199): And more astonishing than all of that is your measuring God by the measure of the Throne, its size, and its weight, in terms of smallness or greatness. You claimed, like blind children — whether God is greater than the Throne, smaller than it, or equal to it — that if God is smaller, then you have made the Throne greater than Him; and if He is greater than the Throne, then you have claimed that part of Him exceeds the Throne; and if He is equal to it, then if the heavens and the earth were added to the Throne, they would be greater. Along with superstitions he spoke of, nonsense he played with, and misguidances by which he misguides. If the one who acts upon it did so for God, he would have cut off the fruit of his tongue. Disappointment is for a people whose jurist this is, and who is looked up to despite all this discernment, this insight, and all these ignorances and misguidances.
So it is said to this boastful babbler: God is greater than everything, and greater than all creation. The Throne did not bear Him by greatness or power, nor did the bearers of the Throne bear Him by their power, nor did they lift His Throne by the strength of their build. Rather, they bore Him by His power, His will, His volition, and His support. Were it not for that, they would not have been able to bear Him... etc.
٢٣- وأخبرنا يوسف - بقراءتي [١٢/ ب] عليه غير مرة - ، أنبا أبو الفتح ناصر ابن محمد الوِيري - بأصبهان - ، ثنا أبو نصر أحمد بن عُمر بن محمد بن عبد الله، ثنا ناصر السُّنَّة: أبو إسماعيل عبد الله بن محمد بن علي الأنصاري رحمه الله قال:
(بابُ إثباتِ الحدِّ للهِ عَزَّ وجَلَّ) (١).
وقد رد ابن بطة رحمه الله على هذه الشبهة فقال: (أما قولكم: (إنه لا يكون على العرش؛ لأنه أعظم من العرش)، فقد شاء الله أن يكون على العرش، وهو أعظم منه، قال الله تعالى: ﴿ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ﴾ [البقرة: ٢٩]، وقال: ﴿وَهُوَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَوَاتِ﴾، ثم قال: ﴿وَفِي الْأَرْضِ يَعْلَمُ﴾ [الأنعام: ٣]، فأخبر أنه في السماء، وأنه بعلمه في الأرض. وقال: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَىٰ﴾. ثم ذكر الأدلة على علو الله عز وجل.
وقال الإمام الدارمي رحمه الله في «نقضه على المريسي» (ص١٩٩): وأعجب من ذلك كله: قياسك الله بمقياس العرش ومقداره وزنه من صِغر أو كِبر، وزعمت كالصبيان العميان - إن كان الله أكبر من العرش، أو أصغر منه، أو مثلـه - فإن كان الله أصغر فقد صيرتم العرش أعظم منه، وإن كان أكبر من العرش فقد ادعيتم فيه فضلًا على العرش، وإن كان مثله فإنه إذا ضُمَّ إلى العرش السموات والأرض كانت أكبر مع خرافات تكلم بها وترهات تعلب بها، ضلالات يضل بها، لو كان من يعمل عليه لله لقطع ثمرة لسانه، والخيبة لقوم هذا فقيههم، والمنظور إليه مع هذا التمييز كله، وهذا البصر، وكل هذه الجهالات والضلالات.
فيقال لهذا البقباق النفاج: إن الله أعظم من كل شيء، وأكبر من كل خلق، ولم يحتمله العرش عِظَمًا، ولا قوة، ولا حملة العرش احتملوه بقوتهم، ولا استقلوا بعرشه بشدة أسرهم، ولكنهم حملوه بقدرته ومشيئته وإرادته وتأييده، لولا ذلك ما أطاقوا حمله ... إلخ
(١) كتاب «الأربعين في دلائل التوحيد» للهروي الأنصاري (ص ٥٧).
