without reinterpretation, and affirm that it is His very Essence that has risen over the Throne.” He said: “His being over the Throne is mentioned in every book sent down to a prophet commissioned as a messenger, without specifying how.” He discussed this at length.

Imam Abū al-Hasan al-Karajī al-Shāfi‘ī said in his well-known introduction on “The Creed of Ahl al-Sunnah,” copied from the handwriting of Shaykh Abū ‘Amr ibn al-Salāh:

Their creed is that Allah Himself is over His Throne,
While His knowledge encompasses all unseen things.

I did not mention all these reports to the envoy. They are, however, among those to which I referred when I said: “I have said nothing of my own accord. I have only stated what the early generations of this community and its leading scholars agreed upon.” There is not enough space here to include the community’s statements on this matter.

He said to me: “Yes, He Himself is truly risen over the Throne, without specifying how and without likening Him to creation.”

I said: “Yes, and this is what the Creed states.”

He said: “Then write it down now,” or “Write this down,” or words to that effect.

I replied: “This is already written in these very words in the Creed you have—the one examined in Damascus and agreed upon by the Muslims. What, then, is it that I want?”

I also told him: “I have brought more than fifty books—works by hadith scholars, Sufis, theologians, and jurists of the four schools: the Hanafīs, Mālikīs, Shāfi‘īs, and Hanbalīs—all agreeing with what I have said.”

I said: “I allow anyone who disagrees with me three years to produce a single word from the leading scholars of Islam that contradicts what I have said. What am I to do?”

When al-Taybarsī and al-Fattāh left, al-Fattāh returned a little later and said: “Greetings to you from