—they were more familiar with the reality of their position because they lived near them, and so they might affirm the opposite of what the Jahmiyyah denied. Some of them, however, might hesitate to use a particular term, such as hadd (limit). Those renowned as leading authorities in the Sunnah affirmed it, as Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd reported from them, naming Ibn al-Mubārak.

Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismā‘īl al-Ansārī al-Harawī, in his book Dhamm al-kalām (Censure of Speculative Theology), related with a chain of transmission what Harb ibn Ismā‘īl al-Kirmānī, a companion of Ahmad and Ishāq, recorded in his collection of questions answered by those two and others. He said:

I asked Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm, “What do you say concerning His words, ‘There is no private conversation among three but He is their fourth’ [al-Mujādilah 7], and the rest of the verse?”

He replied, “Wherever you may be, He is closer to you than your jugular vein, yet He is distinct from His creation.”

I asked Ishāq, “Upon the Throne, with a limit?”

He replied, “Yes, with a limit.”

He also related from Ibn al-Mubārak that he said, “He is upon His Throne, distinct from His creation, with a limit.” He also related what Ibn Abī