Anas; this, then, is the doctrine of the Muslims.

This is also the plain sense of the word istawā as understood by the great majority of Muslims who have remained upon a sound fitrah, inclining neither toward taʿṭīl nor toward (1) tamthīl. This is exactly what Yazīd ibn Hārūn al-Wāsiṭī (2)—whose leadership, dignity, and virtue are unanimously acclaimed, and who belonged to the generation of the Followers of the Followers—meant when he said (3):

“Whoever claims that the Most Merciful’s rising over the Throne is anything other than what settles naturally in the hearts of ordinary people is a Jahmī.”

For Allah—exalted is He—has embedded in the innate disposition of His servants and fashioned them upon the conviction that their Lord is above His heavens, just as ʿAbd Allah ibn Rawāḥah (4), may Allah be pleased with him (5), chanted before the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and the Prophet approved it (6):

I testify that Allah’s promise is surely true,
And that the Fire is the lodging of unbelievers;
That the Throne floats upon the water,
And above the Throne is the Lord of all worlds. (7)