All creatures are the creation of Allah Most High, and the Throne (Arsh) is a corporeal body that He created and upon which He settled by a wisdom He willed, not out of any need for it. His angels worship Him by carrying it, not because He needs them, for He, by His power, supports the Throne and all beneath it. The Qur’an is replete with references to the Throne, as is the Sunnah—leaving no room for dispute. There is no doubt as to the falsity of the Mutakallimûn’s doctrine and their view of the Throne, for Allah says, “And the Throne of your Lord will be carried above them that Day by eight” (Qur’an 69:17). It is neither coherent in anyone’s mind nor in the Arabic language to render this as “and the angels (‘malak’) of your Lord will carry eight [of them].” Indeed, the kingdom (mulk) of Allah encompasses all His creation—heavens and all they contain, earths and all they contain, and every creature. According to the interpretation of these innovators, one would be forced to conclude that they are carriers of all of Allah’s creation rather than of a specific created entity called the Throne. Such an interpretation is utterly untenable and constitutes a clear denial of Allah and His Messenger. The other interpretation is equally flawed, since it is established in the sharī‘ah that the Throne has pillars (qawā’im) borne by angels, as reported in the agreed-upon hadith: “... for the people are struck unconscious, and I am the first to regain consciousness; and behold, I saw Moses holding one of the pillars of the Throne—so I do not know whether he regained consciousness before me or whether I emerged from the thunderbolt of the mountain.” In linguistic usage, the term “Throne” denotes the seat (sarīr) of a king, as Allah says of Bilqīs: “And there was for her a magnificent Throne” (Qur’an 27:23). It is not a celestial orb (falak); the Arabs would not understand it that way, and the Qur’an was revealed in their language. See Sharh al-Tahāwiyya, p. 248, and Al-Ulūw by al-Dhahabī, p. 57. The Throne is among the matters of the unseen (ghayb) which we must believe in exactly as Allah and His Messenger have informed us. As for the isti‘wā’ (settling) upon the Throne, the creed of the salaf is to affirm that Allah settled on His Throne—as the Qur’an declares in seven passages and the Sunnah in numerous instances—in a manner befitting His majesty and greatness, without likening it to the isti‘wā’ of created beings and without negating the reality of the attribute; rather, one must affirm it according to the methodology defined by the verse, “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing” (Qur’an 42:11). The salaf accepted both the texts that affirm the attribute and those that absolve Allah from resemblance, uniting them in a single approach, as is their practice regarding His other attributes. By contrast, the Mutakallimûn understood isti‘wā’ to mean conquest, overpowering, and subjugation, and their sole proof for this interpretation is a verse of poetry by al-Akhtal al-Naṣrānī, cited by Ibn Kathīr in al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihāya (vol. 9, p. 261): “Qad istawā basharun ‘alā al-‘Irāq min ghayri saifin wa-damin muhraqq” He then comments that this verse is adduced by the Jahmiyya to prove that isti‘wā’ upon the Throne means…