This is because the term “limit,” as used by everyone who employs it, has two meanings: the reality of the thing itself, and the statement that identifies and distinguishes it. In this respect, a descriptive definition and a quantitative limit are alike: both can refer to existence in external reality and existence in the mind.

Thus, Abū ʿAbd Allāh stated that He is upon the Throne, with no limit that anyone can determine for Him and no attribute that any describer can encompass. He followed this with the words, “Vision cannot encompass Him” [al-Anʿām 103], within any boundary or limit. This is the correct explanation of encompassing Him: vision cannot encompass His boundary or limit. He then said, “But He encompasses all vision” [al-Anʿām 103], and that He knows the unseen and the seen, making clear that He knows Himself and all things.

Al-Khallāl said, “ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā also informed me that Hanbal related to them, saying: ‘I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh about the hadiths that are narrated