[The words of Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī]

Shaykh Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī said:

“Allah has described Himself as being on high, in heaven, and His Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets, described Him likewise. All the scholars among the Companions and the pious, and the leading jurists, unanimously agreed on this. Reports to this effect have been transmitted so widely as to establish certainty. Allah has united the hearts of the Muslims upon it and embedded it in the innate nature of all His creatures. Thus, when distress befalls them, you see them looking towards heaven, raising their hands towards it in supplication, awaiting relief from their Lord, and expressing this with their tongues. None denies this except an innovator who has gone to extremes in his innovation, or someone beguiled into imitating him and following him in his misguidance.”

He said:

“In this treatise, I shall mention some of what has reached me on this subject from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his Companions, and the leading scholars who followed his Sunnah. I shall present it in a manner that establishes definite certainty that these accounts are authentically attributed to them, and demonstrates their widespread transmission through numerous routes. Believers who read this will thereby increase in faith, and we shall draw the attention of those unaware of it until it becomes as though they had witnessed it with their own eyes.”

[The words of Abū Abd Allāh al-Qurtubī explaining the meaning of being established over the Throne]

After mentioning the differing interpretations of “being established over the Throne,” Abū Abd Allāh al-Qurtubī al-Mālikī said:

“The clearest view is that supported alike by the verses, the reports, and the virtuous and righteous: Allah is over His Throne, as He has declared in His Book and through His Prophet, without specifying how, distinct from all His creation. This is the position of the righteous predecessors, as trustworthy transmitters have related from them.”