And from the speech of Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, on this issue throughout his books:
— He said in [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (2/527)]:
Indeed, many of the Imams of the Sunna and Hadith, or most of them, say: ("He is above His heavens, over His Throne, distinct from His creation with a limit"). And among them are those who did not use the term "limit" unrestrictedly, and some of them rejected the limit. End quote.
And he said in [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (3/591)]:
It is established from the Imams of the Predecessors (Salaf) that they said: "Allah has a limit," and that none knows it other than Him, and that He is distinct from His creation. The people of Hadith and the Sunna have authored works on this. This is the meaning of spatial confinement according to those of the early generations who spoke of it, for the dispute among them is often verbal. However, the people of the Sunna and Hadith observe the wordings of the texts and the wordings of the Predecessors (Salaf). Many of those who seek that believe in wordings whose meanings they do not understand, and one might believe in a wording while belying another meaning, his utmost being that it contains some of the meaning of the wording he believed in. End quote.
— And he also said, may Allah have mercy on him, in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (3/683):
And they [the Imams of the Sunna] mentioned... that Jahm and his followers were the first to invent these negative attributes in Islam, and the invalidation of their opposites, such as their statement: "He is not above the world, nor is He inside the world, nor outside it, nor is He in one place rather than another, nor is He spatially confined, nor a substance, nor a body, nor having an end, nor a limit," and similar expressions. For all of these expressions, and what resembles them, are not transmitted from anyone
ومِن كلام ابن تيمية رحمه الله في هذه المسألة في ثنايا كتبه:
- قال في [«بيان تلبيس الجهمية» (٢/ ٥٢٧)]:
إن كثيرًا من أئمة السُّنّة والحديث أو أكثرهم يقولون:
(إنه فوق سماواته على عرشه، بائن من خلقه بِحَدٍّ).
ومنهم من لم يطلق لفظ: (الحد)، وبعضهم أنكر الحدَّ. اهـ
وقال في [«بيان تلبيس الجهمية» (٣/ ٥٩١)]:
وقد ثبت عن أئمة السَّلَف أنَّهم قالوا: (لله حد)، وأن ذلك لا يعلمه غيره، وأنه مُباين لخلقه، وفي ذلك لأهل الحديث والسُّنة مُصنفات، وهذا هو معنى التحيز عند من تكلّم به من الأولين، فإن هؤلاء كثيرًا ما يكون النِّزاع بينهم لفظيًّا؛ لكن أهل السُّنة والحديث فيهم رعاية لألفاظ النُّصوص وألفاظ السَّلف، وكثير من مبتغي ذلك يؤمن بألفاظٍ لا يفهم معانيها، وقد يؤمن بلفظ ويكذب بمعنى آخر، غايته أن يكون فيه بعض معنى اللفظ الذي آمن به. اهـ
- وقال أيضًا رحمه الله في «بيان تلبيس الجهمية» (٣/ ٦٨٣):
وذكروا [أئمةُ السُّنة] .. أن جهمًا وأتباعه هم أوّل من أحدثَ في الإسلام هذه الصفات السَّلبية، وإبطال نقيضها، مثل قولهم: ليس فوق العالم، ولا هو داخل العالم، ولا خارجه، وليس في مكان دون مكان، وليس بمتحيز، ولا جَوهر، ولا جسم، ولا نهاية، ولا حدّ، ونحو هذه العبارات، فإن هذه العبارات جميعها، وما يشبهها، لا تؤْثَر عن أحدٍ
