a created being; or to interpret it as a rising over that entails having a beginning or an imperfection. This is the view reported from those misguided people who liken Allah to creation and ascribe a body to Him. It is decisively refuted by both the Quran and reason.

Another position is to say: There is no real rising over at all, no God over the Throne, and no Lord above the heavens. This is the position of the misguided Jahmiyyah, who negate the divine attributes. For anyone who has closely studied the prophetic teachings, it is decisively refuted by what is necessarily known of the religion of Islam, and by the innate disposition Allah has given His creatures to acknowledge that He is above His creation, just as they acknowledge that He is their Lord.

Ibn Qutaybah said:

“The nations, Arab and non-Arab alike, have always acknowledged, both in their days of ignorance and in Islam, that Allah is in heaven—that is, above heaven.”

The third position is to say: Rather, He—glory be to Him—rose over the Throne in a manner befitting His majesty and greatness. He is above His heavens, over His Throne, distinct from His creation, even though He—glory be to Him—Himself sustains the Throne and its bearers. His rising over is known, its manner is unknown, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation, as Umm Salamah, Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Rahmān, and Mālik ibn Anas said.

This is the position of the Muslims. It is the apparent meaning of “rose over” to Muslims in general whose sound innate dispositions remain intact, having deviated neither into negating the divine attributes nor into likening Allah to creation. This is what Yazīd ibn Hārūn al-Wāsitī—whose standing as a leading scholar, eminence, and merit are universally acknowledged, and who belonged to the generation following the Successors—meant when he said: