ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him: 'How do we know Allah, Mighty and Majestic?'
He said: 'Over the Throne with a limit' - he said: 'That has reached me from him,' and it pleased him..." Then he mentioned the preceding reports from the book al-Sunna by al-Khallāl, then he said:
This is an example of what was transmitted from the Imams, as has been detailed in other than this place. They clarified that the limit they affirmed for Him is not known by anyone other than Him, as Mālik, Rabīʿa, and others said: ("The establishment is known, and the how is unknown"). Thus, he clarified that the modality of His establishment is unknown to the servants. So they did not negate the affirmation of that in reality; rather, they negated the creation's knowledge of it. And likewise, the likes of this is in the speech of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mājishūn and more than one of the Predecessors (Salaf) and the Imams; they negate the creation's knowledge of His measure and His modality.
And similarly said ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Salama al-Mājishūn in his well-known speech, which Ibn Baṭṭa mentioned in al-Ibāna, and Abū ʿUmar al-Ṭalamankī in his book on al-Uṣūl, and Abū Bakr al-Athram narrated it, saying: ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ narrated to us from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Salama that he said:...
روى علي بن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف الله عز وجل؟
قال: على العرش بحدّ - قال: قد بلغني ذلك عنه وأعجبه... ثم ذكر الآثار السابقة من كتاب السُّنَّة للخلال، ثم قال:
فهذا مثاله مما نُقل عن الأئمة كما قد بُسط في غير هذا الموضع وبينوا أن ما أثبتوه له من الحد لا يعلمه غيره، كما قال مالك وربيعة وغيرهما:
(الاستواء معلوم، والكيف مجهول)، فبيَّنَ أن كيفية استوائه مجهولة للعباد، فلم ينفوا ثبوت ذلك في نفس الأمر؛ ولكن نفوا علم الخلق به، وكذلك مثل هذا في كلام عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن الماجشون وغير واحد من السَّلف والأئمَّة؛ ينفون علم الخلق بقدْره وكيفيته.
وبنحو ذلك قال عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن أبي سلمة الماجشون في كلامه المعروف وقد ذكره ابن بطة في «الإبانة»، وأبو عمر الطَّلمنكي في كتابه في «الأصول» ورواه أبو بكر الأثرم قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن صالح عن عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن أبي سلمة أنه قال:..
