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} [Fāṭir: 10], {Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven} [Al-Mulk: 16], and {The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him} [Al-Maʿārij: 4], and He is upon the Throne and His knowledge is with everything.

[Ibn Taymiyya said: And their statement: ("What is the meaning of Ibn al-Mubārak's statement?", and his statement: "I do not know it"). It may mean: I do not know the reality of his intent; but the apparent meaning of the wording has supporting evidences, which are the texts indicating that matters end with God, and that He is in the heaven, and the like.

And it may mean: I do not know from where he said that; but it has supporting evidences.] (1)

• Al-Khallāl said: And Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Warrāq informed us, Abū Bakr al-Athram narrated to us, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Qaysī narrated to us, he said: I said to Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal: It is reported about Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him: How do we know our Lord?

He said: In the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, with Al-Ḥadd. So Aḥmad said: Thus He is according to us.

• Al-Khallāl said: Ḥarb b. Ismāʿīl informed us, he said: I said to Isḥāq -