He replied(1): “That He is above His heavens, upon His Throne, distinct from His creation.”
Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaymah(2)—nicknamed “the Imam of the Imams,” whose statements that support the school of al-Shafiʿi are a source of joy to Shafiʿis,(3) to the point that it is almost said none of them is more knowledgeable of this matter than he—said: “Whoever does not affirm that Allah is above His heavens, upon His Throne, distinct from His creation, must be called to repent. If he repents, well and good; if not, his neck is to be struck and his corpse thrown onto a rubbish heap so that neither the people of Islam(4) nor the people under covenant suffer from the stench of his body, and his property is to be taken as fayʾ (public booty).”
Imam Malik ibn Anas(5), as related from him by ʿAbd Allah ibn Nafiʿ—a report widely known from him—said: “Allah is in the heaven, and His knowledge is in every place; no place is devoid of His knowledge.”
(1) al-Bukhari, Kitab Khalq Af‘al al-‘Ibad, p.31 (without the phrase ba’in min khalqihi); see also al-Darimi, al-Radd ‘ala al-Jahmiyya, p.23.
(2) This report is attributed to Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq, but it is not found in his Al-Tawhid wa Ithbat Sifat al-Rabb. It was transmitted by the Shaykh (may God have mercy on him) in his Dar’ Ta’arud al-‘Aql wa al-Naql (6:264), who adds: “This is known from him; al-Hakim included it in his Tarikh Nishapur, and Abu ‘Uthman al-Nishapuri in his famous Risala.” The original Tarikh Nishapur appears to be lost. See Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, vol.1/1:456.
(3) The original reading “yafūḥ” is a scribal error, as it makes no sense; the text is coherent in manuscripts S and T. In Majmu‘ al-Fatāwā it appears as “ya‘ruj”, also a copyist’s mistake.
(4) The original reads al-milal, as confirmed by manuscripts S, T, and the Majmū‘. In Dar’ Ta’arud al-‘Aql wa al-Naql it appears as ahl al-qibla.
(5) It is recorded by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal in al-Sunnah, p.11; and by al-Ajrī in al-Sharīʿa, p.289.