Allah, by the weight of His Throne. Glory be to Allah, in proportion to His own pleasure. Glory be to Allah, as much as the ink of His words.”

This hadith contains points that refute the Jahmiyyah and the philosophers.

Among them are his words, “by the weight of His Throne.” This emphasizes the immensity of the Throne’s weight and that it is the heaviest of all created things. It therefore indicates its heaviness, as is also mentioned in some hadiths, contrary to the assertion of some philosophers that the celestial spheres and whatever is above them are neither heavy nor light. This rests on their convention of defining the heavy as that which moves downward and the light as that which moves upward, whereas the celestial spheres neither descend nor ascend. Yet this is because Allah holds them in place by His power, just as He holds the earth in its resting place. Moreover, the location occupied by bodies is not itself an existing entity; there is nothing in it that requires one thing, rather than another, to occupy it.

Another point concerns his words, “His own pleasure.” These affirm His Self and His pleasure, and establish that His pleasure is not merely His will. For he had already said, “as many times as the number of His creatures,” and what is created is what He has willed and wished to exist. If His pleasure were His will, then what He willed would exist, for what He willed had already come into existence before these words were spoken: whatever Allah wills comes to pass. And these words