—namely, that He exists above the Throne and is distinct from created beings. They asked him, “With a limit?” He replied, “With a limit.” This is understood by anyone familiar with the difference between the position of the believers, Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, and that of the heretical Jahmiyyah.

The second point concerns his statement: “These people must recognize that Allah’s attributes are to be derived only from the Book of Allah or the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not from the words of any other person.”

They would say to him: “Had you and those you followed faithfully adhered to this course, you would not have compelled us and our imams to refute your innovations. Instead, you abandoned what the Book and the Sunnah require concerning both negation and affirmation. As for negation, you denied of Allah things that neither the Book nor the Sunnah nor any imam of the Muslims ever stated. Indeed, upon careful examination, reason does not warrant such negations either. Yet you claimed that reason ruled these things out. Thus you opposed the revealed law through innovation and substantive contradiction, and you opposed sound reason, saying, ‘He is not