and Abū al-Hasan al-Tabarī, Abū al-‘Abbās al-Qalānisī, and others—as his position and those of others will be related below, Allah willing—and Judge Abū Bakr ibn al-Bāqillānī, Abū ‘Alī ibn Shādhān, and others. They all affirm Allah’s elevation above the Throne and His rising over it specifically, rather than over anything else. They regard as misguided those who interpret this as dominion, subjugation, or the like, as illustrated by some of their statements that we have already quoted in the response to the request for a fatwa and in the response to these questions put to him.

We also noted that Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī stated that this was the position of all the people of the Sunnah and hadith. Al-Rāzī likewise says that this is their position, and he too has attributed it in his books to some of the leading scholars of his school. He also attributed two positions to al-Ash‘arī himself, and we have discussed this. How, then, can he claim that his opponents are only