He said: “One day I asked Imām Abū al-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn Muhammad, ‘Has it not been reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, that he interpreted His words, “He rose above,” as “He sat”?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ I said to him, ‘Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh says, “Only one who stands upright can be described as sitting.”’ He replied, ‘I do not know what Ishāq is saying.’”

He said: “This reflects his adherence to the Sunnah and his refusal to heed anything else once a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and a statement of the Companions have been established.”

Abū Bakr al-Khallāl mentioned in his Book of the Sunnah what Ishāq ibn Mansūr al-Kawsaj recorded in his collection of questions