other passages that make this clear.

Some of Imam Ahmad’s followers thought that these two statements contradicted one another, and thus reported two positions from him concerning the affirmation of a limit for Allah Most High. This is the approach of the two transmitted positions and the two interpretive views. Others denied that His exalted Essence has a limit and denied that His servants have knowledge of it, supposing this to be the implication of Hanbal’s report. They interpreted the reports of al-Marwadhī, al-Athram, Abū Dāwūd, and others affirming a limit for Him as referring instead to the affirmation of a limit for the Throne. Still others explained the matter in accordance with what both statements indicate, or interpreted the denial of a limit in another sense.

Denial was the approach initially taken by al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā in al-Mu‘tamad and elsewhere: he used to deny both a limit and a direction. This was his earlier position. He said:

“Section: Allah has described Himself as rising over the Throne