As for al-Asharī and the leading scholars among his followers, they agree on affirming the attributes known through revelation, although they disagree over His being above creation: is it an attribute known through reason or through revelation?

As for the leading proponents of affirming the divine attributes, such as Ibn Kullāb, and the rest of the early generations, they hold that His being above creation is an attribute known through reason. This is the position of the majority of Ahmad’s followers and others, and the position to which Judge Abū Ya‘lā ultimately returned. It is also the position of the majority of scholars of hadith, jurisprudence, and Sufism, as well as that of the Karrāmīs and others.

As for His establishment over the Throne, those who regard it as an attribute of action agree that it is an attribute known through revelation, for it is known only through revelation.

This statement reported by Ibn Kullāb and others—that very few Muslims disputed that Allah is above the Throne—shows the error of those who say that the dispute is only with the Karrāmīs and Hanbalīs. Rather, the vast majority of people across all groups affirm it: the majority of leading jurists among the Hanafīs, Mālikīs, Shāfi‘īs, Hanbalīs, and Dāwūdīs; the majority of Sufis and those devoted to asceticism and worship; the majority of Quran commentators; the majority of hadith scholars; the majority of theologians among the Karrāmīs, Kullābīs, Asharīs, and Hishāmīs; the majority of the Murji’ites; and the majority of the early Shia.

Disagreement over this is known only from Jahm and his followers, the Mutazilites, and those who