The later Ash'arites are in unanimous agreement upon denying God Almighty's elevation; rather, some of them explicitly declared the disbelief of whoever affirms God Almighty's elevation, as the quotation of their statements has preceded in the Introduction of this Book (p. 39).
Al-Sijzī, may Allah have mercy on him, said (p. 137) in his "Risāla fī al-Ḥarf wa-l-Ṣawt" while clarifying their agreement with the Mu'tazilites in denying elevation: "(A clarification of their agreement with the Mu'tazilites in many issues of the principles, and that they exceed them in ugliness and corruption of speech in some of them)."
He said: "And [the Mu'tazilites] denied the hadith of the Ascension (Miʿrāj).
And al-Ashʿarī said: 'It is established,' then he said: 'God cannot be described as being above.'
Thus, he belied what is in the hadith of the Ascension, so he became in agreement with them despite his outward display of disagreement." End quote.
And Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī said in "Dhamm al-Kalām" (5/135) while comparing the doctrine of the Jahmiyya and the Ash'arites and clarifying that there is no difference between them in reality: He said: "Those ones said—may God make their statement ugly—[meaning the Jahmiyya]: 'Indeed, God is present in every place.'
And these ones say [meaning the Ash'arites]: 'He is not in a place, nor is He described with "where?"' ... And they said: 'He is from above just as He is from below; it is not known where He is, nor is He described with a place, and He is not in the heaven, nor is He in the earth,' and they denied direction and Al-Ḥadd." End quote.
"Know that most of the people of the cities today are Ash'arites, and their doctrine regarding the attributes of the Lord, Glorified and Exalted be He, agrees with some of what the Jahmī Mu'tazilites are upon..." until he said: "And the Ash'arites do not affirm the elevation of the Lord above His heavens, nor His establishment over His Throne, and they call whoever affirms the attribute of elevation and establishment over the Throne an anthropomorphist (mujassim) and a comparer (mushabbih).
And this is contrary to what the people of the Sunna and the congregation are upon... And many of the Predecessors (Salaf) explicitly declared the disbelief of whoever does not affirm the attribute of elevation and establishment.
And the Ash'arites agreed with the Jahmiyya in denying this attribute; however, the Jahmiyya say: 'Indeed, He, Glorified and Exalted be He, is in every place,' and they are called the Incarnationists (Ḥulūliyya).
