He said:

“The answer is that when the apparent meanings of transmitted texts conflict with rational proofs, neither can both be affirmed nor both rejected, since two contradictory propositions cannot both be true or both be false. Nor can the transmitted texts be affirmed and reason rejected, because reason is the foundation of the transmitted texts: rejecting it in order to affirm them entails rejecting both. Thus, reason must be affirmed, while knowledge of the meaning of the transmitted texts is left to Allah, or their apparent meanings are subjected to interpretation.”

[The response to him]

The answer to this is as follows:

That Allah Most High is above the world is known with necessary certainty from the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community, upon careful reflection on these sources. This is like knowing that there will be eating and drinking in Paradise; that messengers were sent and scriptures revealed; that Allah knows all things and has power over all things; and that He created the heavens, the earth, and everything between them. Indeed, it has been said that the texts affirming His being above occur in hundreds of passages.

The reports from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the Companions, and the Successors are mass-transmitted and agree with this. We therefore had no need to negate this on the basis of a particular expression that might be said to admit of interpretation. Hence, there was no disagreement concerning this among the Companions and the Successors, as is attested by the widely circulated and mass-transmitted collections of reports on this subject. Those who devote attention to this field know this with greater certainty than they know the hadiths concerning stoning and intercession