whose views have reached me from among the other scholars …” He then outlined the principal beliefs of the people of the Sunnah, including: “And that Allah is established upon His Throne, distinct from His creation, as He says in His Book: ‘He has encompassed all things in knowledge’ {12} [al-Talāq 12], and ‘He has enumerated all things in number’ [al-Jinn 28].”

Quoting the statements of the early generations from the first three centuries, and of those who transmitted their statements, affirming that Allah Most High is above the Throne, would take too long for the space available here. We have, however, drawn attention to this. They did not regard this as one of the disputed questions in which independent scholarly judgment was permissible; indeed, they did not even place it in the same category as