is its modality known—just as he affirms for Allah a real Essence that in no way resembles the essences of created beings, yet whose modality is likewise unknown. This is exactly what Mālik, his teacher Rabīʿah, and others said regarding the divine rising (istiwāʾ): “The rising is known, its how-ness is unknown, believing in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation.”¹

As for the words, “The rising is known,” they mean that its lexical sense is clear in the Arabic tongue in which the Quran was revealed. The term carries different nuances depending on whether it stands alone or is linked to a preposition; when it is joined with the preposition ʿalā (“upon”), it conveys elevation and settling, as in the Almighty’s words:
“Then, when you and those with you have settled upon the Ark …” (Q 23:28),
and,
“so that you may sit firm upon their backs, and then remember your Lord’s favor when you have settled upon them” (Q 43:13).
Thus Allah’s rising over His Throne is a particular kind of elevation that befits Him, in a manner unknown to us; it is not the unrestricted elevation that applies to His being above all creation.

The phrase, “and its how-ness is unknown,” means that the manner in which Allah rose over His Throne is hidden from us for three reasons:

1. Allah has informed us that He rose over the Throne but has not told us how He rose.
2. Knowledge of the modality of an attribute depends on knowing the modality of the One described—namely, the Essence. Since we do not know how Allah’s Essence is, we cannot know how His attributes are.
3. A thing’s modality can be known only by seeing it, by seeing something analogous to it, or by receiving a truthful report about it. None of these avenues exists with respect to Allah’s rising over His Throne. This shows that the early generations did affirm a modality for the rising, yet it remains unknown to us.

And the words, “and believing in it is obligatory,” mean that affirming the rising in this