—the Lord (1); therefore, let him simply recite the verse concerning His establishment upon the Throne and His coming (2), as well as His words, “what I created with My own hands” (Sad 75), “but the Countenance of your Lord will endure” (al-Rahman 27), and “sailing under Our eyes” (al-Qamar 14),

and every sound report from the Messenger, such as the hadith of the Divine Descent and others, exactly as we have set forth (3).

The ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir said: I heard the man of letters Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qayrawānī—who used to attend the master Abū al-Maʿālī’s lessons in kalām—say, “Today I heard Abū al-Maʿālī declare, ‘My companions, do not busy yourselves with kalām. Had I known that kalām would lead me to what it has, I would never have occupied myself with it.’ ”

The jurist Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥasan ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Rustumī related: Abū al-Fath al-Ṭabarī the jurist told us, “I entered upon Abū al-Maʿālī during his illness, and he said, ‘Bear witness for me that I have retracted every statement that conflicts with the sunnah, and that I shall die upon what the old women of Naysābūr die upon (6).’ ”

Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir also said: “The ḥadith scholar Abū Jaʿfar al-Hamadhānī was present in one of Abū al-Maʿālī’s preaching assemblies, and Abū al-Maʿālī said, ‘Allah was when there was no Throne, and He is now as He ever was.’ Whereupon Abū…"