on affirming the nearness of created beings to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and their nearness to them. Al-Ashʿarī received this position, which he stated and attributed to Ahl al-Sunnah, from Zakariyyā ibn Yahyā al-Sājī and other leading scholars of Basra. This wording concerning nearness, which he cited, is recorded from Hammād ibn Zayd, the imam of Ahl al-Sunnah in the time of Mālik