this doctrine admits of three possibilities: He, Exalted is He, may be said to be in contact with the Throne, separate from it by a finite distance, or separate from it by an infinite distance. Each of these three positions has been adopted by a group among the Karrāmiyyah. They also disagree over whether He, Exalted is He, is specifically situated in those directions by virtue of His essence or by virtue of an eternal quality; there is disagreement among them on this.

I say: This account falls far short in its understanding and accurate presentation of people’s doctrines. For those who affirm that Allah, Exalted is He, is above the Throne and those who affirm the attributes known through revelation include the early generations, the scholars of hadith, the imams of the Muslim community and its great majority, most of those who affirm the divine attributes among the Kullābiyyah, Ash‘ariyyah and Karrāmiyyah, and most of those renowned throughout the community’s various groups as leading authorities in jurisprudence and Sufism. The majority of them say neither “He is a body” nor “He is not a body,” because both expressions involve ambiguity and multiple meanings