and Yahyā ibn ‘Ammār: “I wished to leave my companions an exhortation based on the Sunnah and to bring together what the people of hadith, knowledge, and Sufism, both earlier and later, adhered to.” He mentioned various matters in this exhortation, until he said:

“And that Allah rose over His Throne without describing how, likening Him to creation, or figurative reinterpretation. His rising over the Throne is understood, but how is unknown. He is above His Throne, distinct from His creation, and His creation is distinct from Him, without indwelling, intermingling, or contact. He, the Almighty and Majestic, is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Knowing, All-Aware. He speaks, is pleased, becomes angry, laughs, marvels, and reveals Himself to His servants on the Day of Resurrection, laughing. Every night He descends to the lowest heaven as He wills, without describing how or interpreting it figuratively. Whoever denies the descent or interprets it figuratively is a misguided innovator.”

Abū ‘Uthmān Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sābūnī said in his Epistle on the Sunnah: “The belief held by the adherents of