Ibn Mu‘addal says this, and many people from the people of Basra have been led astray by him.
I say: The same is said here regarding the affirmation of the hadd (limit) for Allah the Exalted. When the Jahmiyyah denied the highness (uluww) of the Lord, His rising (istiwa’) over His Throne, and His distinctness (baynunah) from His creation, and claimed that Allah the Exalted is everywhere in His Essence—thereby confusing the common folk in the matters of their religion—it was not possible for the People of the Sunnah to remain silent regarding their misguidance. Thus, they affirmed the highness of Allah the Exalted and His rising over His Throne, and added, for the sake of clarity and elucidation, the affirmation of 'distinctness' (baynunah) and 'limit' (hadd) for Allah the Exalted.
This was just as Imam Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak and Imam Ahmad (may Allah the Exalted have mercy upon them both) said: "We know our Lord, Mighty and Majestic is He, to be above seven heavens, over the Throne, distinct from His creation with a hadd, and we do not say as the Jahmiyyah said: 'He is here,'" pointing with his hand toward the earth.
When the statement of Ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy upon him)—"over the Throne He rose with a hadd"—was presented to Ahmad (may Allah have mercy upon him), he said: "There are witnesses for this from the Quran in five places: {To Him ascends good speech} [Fatir: 10], {Do you feel secure from Him who is in the heaven} [al-Mulk: 16], and {The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him} [al-Ma‘arij: 4]." [This will appear later in the text of the book under No. 19].
He (may Allah have mercy upon him) did not denounce that, nor did he consider the discussion of this matter to be among the superfluous speech (fudul al-kalam) that one should avoid delving into, as al-Dhahabi did when he criticized the People of the Sunnah for their treatment of Ibn Hibban when the latter denied the hadd for Allah the Exalted.
Abu Isma‘il al-Harawi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said in Dhamm al-Kalam (4/402): "I asked Yahya ibn ‘Ammar about Abu Hatim ibn Hibban al-Busti, saying: 'Did you see him?' He replied: 'How could I not have seen him, when it was we who expelled him from Sijistan!'"
ابن معدَّل أنه يقول بهذا القول، وقد فُتن به قوم كثير من أهل البصرة.
قلتُ: وكذلك يُقال هاهنا في إثبات الحد لله تعالى.
لما نفت الجهمية علو الرَّبِّ تعالى، واستواءه على عرشه، وبينونته عن خلقه، وادَّعوا أن اللهَ تعالى بذاته في كل مكانٍ، ولبَّسوا على العامَّة أمر دينهم؛ لم يسع أهل السُّنَّة السكوت عن ضلالهم، فأثبتوا علو الله تعالى واستواءه على عرشه؛ وزادوا من باب البيان والإيضاح: إثبات (البينونة والحد لله تعالى)؛ كما قال الإمام عبد الله بن المبارك والإمام أحمد رَحِمَهُمَا اللهُ تعالى: (نعرِفُ رَبَّنا عز وجل فوقَ سبعِ سمواتٍ، عَلى العَرشِ، بائناً من خلقه بحدٍّ، ولا نقول كما قالت الجهمية: هاهنا، وأشار بيده إلى الأرض).
ولما عُرِضَ على أحمد رَحِمَهُ اللهُ قول ابن المبارك رَحِمَهُ اللهُ (على العرش استوى بحَدٍّ)، قال: لهذا شواهد من القرآن في خمسة مواضع: ﴿إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ﴾ [فاطر: ١٠]، ﴿ءَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾ [الملك: ١٦]، ﴿تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ﴾ [المعارج: ٤]. [سيأتي في نص الكتاب برقم (١٩)]
فلم يُنكِر ذلك رَحِمَهُ اللهُ، ولم يجعل الكلام في هذه المسألة من فضول الكلام التي ينبغي ترك الخوض فيها كما صنع الذهبي عند إنكاره على أهل السُّنَّة ما صنعوه بابن حبَّان لما أنكر الحد لله تعالى.
- قال أبو إسماعيل الهروي رَحِمَهُ اللهُ في «ذم الكلام» (٤٠٢/٤):
سألتُ يحيى بن عمار عن أبي حاتم ابن حبان البستي قلتُ: رأيته ؟
قال: كيف لم أره ، ونحن أخرجناه من سجستان !
