the early generations; otherwise, he has deliberately lied. No one can ever cite from even a single member of the salaf anything—explicitly or implicitly—indicating that they believed Allah is not above the Throne, or that He does not in reality possess hearing, sight, and a hand.

[The divergence between the method of the salaf and that of the scholastic theologians]
I have seen certain people adopt this notion and attribute it to the salaf, saying, “The method of those who engage in figurative interpretation (taʾwīl) is, in truth, the method of the salaf. Both parties, they claim, agreed that these verses and hadiths do not establish any of Allah’s attributes; the salaf simply refrained from interpreting them, whereas later scholars judged it beneficial—indeed necessary—to interpret them in view of pressing need. The difference, they say, is that the later scholars specify the meaning intended by interpretation, while the earlier ones left it unspecified in case some other meaning was intended.”

[The salaf’s explicit affirmation that Allah is above His Throne]
This claim, stated unreservedly, is a blatant falsehood against the salaf—certainly with respect to many attributes, and definitively regarding the affirmation that Allah is above the Throne. Whoever studies the words transmitted from the salaf—of which not even a tenth is quoted here—will know with absolute certainty that they explicitly declared that Allah is truly above the Throne and never held any belief to the contrary.