He said: Ahmad thus affirmed a limit for Allah without qualification. Yet he denied it in the report transmitted by Hanbal, saying: “We believe that Allah is upon the Throne, however He wills and as He wills, without any limit or attribute that a describer can encompass, and without anyone being able to delimit Him.”

He therefore denied a limit of the kind described—namely, a limit known to His creation. His unqualified affirmation, however, is understood in two senses. First, He, exalted is He, is in a particular direction; He does not extend in all directions. Rather, He is outside the world, distinct from His creation and separate from them, not present within every direction. This is the meaning of Ahmad’s statement: “He has a limit that none but He knows.”

Second, He possesses an attribute by which He is distinct from others and distinguished from them. Hence a doorkeeper is called a haddād, because he prevents others from entering. He, exalted is He, is therefore unique and one, admitting no partner in His most distinctive