among the adherents of their call. Sultan Mahmūd ibn Sabuktakīn publicly proclaimed the cursing of the people of innovation from the pulpits and upheld the Sunnah. Ibn al-Haysam and Ibn Fūrak debated before him concerning Allah’s being above His creation. He recognized the strength of Ibn al-Haysam’s arguments and favored his position.

It is said that he asked Ibn Fūrak:
“If you wished to describe something nonexistent, how could you describe it more fully than this?”
Or he said:
“Explain to me the difference between this Lord you describe and something nonexistent.”

It is also related that Ibn Fūrak wrote to Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyīnī seeking an answer, but the only answer was that, if He were above the Throne, this would necessarily mean that He was a body.

Some say that when the sultan recognized the unsoundness of Ibn Fūrak’s position, he gave him poison and killed him. Jurists of the hadith school, including followers of al-Shāfi‘ī and others, also debated before him with jurists of the school of reasoned opinion. He recognized the strength of the position of the people of hadith and favored it. He also fought the polytheists in India.

This creed is well known and includes the following:

“Our Lord was alone, with nothing alongside Him and no place containing Him. He created everything by His power and created the Throne, not because He needed it. Then He established Himself above it, settling however He willed and intended—not settling to rest as created beings rest. He governs the heavens and the earth, everything within them, and all who are on land and at sea. None governs but Him, and no