‘Istiylā’ (seizure). This is a distortion of the word from its proper contexts. In the case of this vile Christian there is no argument or proof for it. God did not intend by His istawā’ (establishing Himself) over the Throne to mean that He seized it. Exalted is He above the claim of the Jahmiyya. One only says that a person ‘seized’ (ista’la) something when that thing had been in rebellion against him before he seized it. We find nothing weaker than the Jahmīs’ proofs, so desperate that they resort to the house of this contemptible Christian, where there is no proof at all. (Ibn Kathīr, same source, 9/262.) I say: It is neither astonishing nor strange that they cite this proof, for they appeal to the words of this very Christian in the most perilous attribute of God—namely, the attribute of speech. Their bankruptcy in this matter only continues their bankruptcy in the other. This interpretation is utterly inadmissible even linguistically—let alone the impermissible meanings it entails when ascribed to God, exalted is He. Ibn al-‘Arabī (the linguist) refuted the proponents of this view, saying to one who claimed that istawā means ‘seized’: “How do you know? Arabs do not say, ‘So-and-so seized (istawlā) the Throne’ unless there is an adversary to him in it, so that whichever prevails is said to have seized it. But God has no adversary, and He is ‘established’ upon His Throne as He has informed us.” (See: al-Asmā’ wa al-Ṣifāt by al-Bayhaqī, p. 412.) And see also the chapter “Interpretations of min awwal in this sense,” where both the Mu‘tazila and the Ash‘ariyya adopted it, in al-Asmā’ wa al-Ṣifāt (al-Bayhaqī, p. 410); Ghāyat al-Marām fī ‘Ilm al-Kalām by al-Āmidī, p. 141; al-Iqtisād fī al-I‘tiqād by al-Ghazālī, p. 104; and Mutashābih al-Qur’ān by Qāḍī ‘Abd al-Jabbār (1/73, 351). Imam Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned another interpretation put forward by some, namely, that istawā means ‘approached.’ He (may Allah have mercy on him) answered: “Their interpretation of the verse ‘He created the heavens and the earth in six days, then istawā ‘alā the Throne’ (al-A‘rāf 7:54) as ‘He approached His creation’ is a pure fabrication. No linguist ever listed ‘approach to creation’ among the meanings of istawā. These language manuals are spread throughout the land—do you find any of them recording such a usage? Moreover, ‘X istawā (was established) over Y,’ or ‘X istawā ilā Y’ necessarily implies the existence of X and of what X is said to have been established over or towards. One does not say ‘istawā ilā’ of something nonexistent, nor ‘istawā ‘alayhi.’ Therefore this interpretation is sheer invention, not an authentic report of Arab usage.” (As-Ṣawā‘iq al-Munazzalah 1/155.) The correct tafsīr of istawā, as held by the pious predecessors, is to interpret it as ‘rose above,’ because…