he added, “If someone denies that He is in the heaven, he has fallen into unbelief.”

[Abū Ḥanīfah’s charge of unbelief against the one who hesitates and does not affirm whether Allah is in heaven or on earth]

From this well-known statement of Abū Ḥanīfah, preserved among his students, it is apparent that he declared the hesitator—who says, “I do not know whether my Lord is in the heaven or on the earth”—to be an unbeliever. How much more, then, must this apply to the outright rejecter who says, “He is not in the heaven,” or, “He is neither on the earth nor in the heaven”? Abū Ḥanīfah supported his verdict with the verse, “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne” (Tāhā 20:5), and remarked, “His Throne is above the seven heavens.”

By this he clarified that the Almighty’s words, “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne,” show that Allah is above the heavens, above the Throne, and that rising over the Throne entails that Allah Himself is above it. He then proceeded to pronounce unbelief upon anyone who says, “He rose over the Throne,” yet pauses over whether the Throne is in the heaven or on the earth, explaining that this hesitation amounts to denying that He is in the heaven. For Allah is in the highest heights, and He is invoked from above, not from below. This is an explicit statement from Abū Ḥanīfah declaring unbelief for whoever denies that Allah is in the heaven, arguing that Allah is in the loftiest heights and that He is invoked