And the denial is the method of the judge Abū Yaʿlā initially in "al-Muʿtamad" and other works, for he used to deny Al-Ḥadd and direction, and it is his first statement.

[Then Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, spoke at length in transmitting the statement of the judge in establishing this issue (3/21)]

Then Sheikh al-Islam said:

He said [meaning the judge Abū Yaʿlā al-Farrāʾ]:

And if His establishment (istiwāʾ) is established, and that He is in a direction, and that this is among the attributes of the Essence, is it permissible to apply Al-Ḥadd to Him?

Aḥmad has applied the statement of that in the narration of al-Marrūdhī, and the statement of Ibn al-Mubārak was mentioned to him: We know Allah over the Throne with Al-Ḥadd.

So Aḥmad said: That has reached me, and he liked it.

And al-Athram said: I said to Aḥmad: It is narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak: We know our Lord in the seventh heaven over His Throne with Al-Ḥadd?

So Aḥmad said: This is how it is with us.

He said: And I saw in the handwriting of Abū Isḥāq: Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. Naṣr al-Raffā narrated to us, he said: I heard Abū Bakr b. Abī Dāwūd, he said: I heard my father say: A man came to Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal and said: Does Allah, Blessed and Exalted, have Al-Ḥadd? He said: Yes, none knows it except Him. Allah Almighty said: {And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne} [Al-Zumar: 75]. He says: encircling.