be that Allah transforms accidents into bodies, which is indisputably a transformation. But if “spatial region” means something existent and separate from Him, His being above it and over it does not entail any transformation whatsoever of His essence.

There are two well-known positions concerning His being above the Throne and the world, held across the various groups of theologians, scholars of hadith, jurists, and Sufis among the followers of Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others.

The first is that this is merely a relation between the creation and the Creator, or between the Throne and the Lord, which came into being when He created the Throne, without His having moved or Himself acted in any way. This is the position of those who maintain that temporal events cannot occur in His essence and that movement is impossible for Him.

The second position, well known from the early generations, the leading scholars of hadith, and many theologians, jurists, and Sufis of the four schools and others, is that He became established over it after creating the heavens and the earth, as the Quran indicates. He thus became established over it after not having been established over it. The same applies to His turning toward heaven, His coming, and His arrival, as conveyed in the authentic, mass-transmitted texts. On this understanding, none of this constitutes a transformation of His essence. Rather, he himself has stated that there is nothing in the proofs