“The Most Merciful rose over the Throne”—how did He rise over it?’

Mālik lowered his head until he broke out in perspiration. Then he said, ‘Rising over the Throne is not unknown, and its manner cannot be comprehended. Believing in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation. I can only regard you as an innovator.’ Then he ordered that the man be removed.”

The statement of Rabī‘ah and Mālik, “Rising over the Throne is not unknown, and its manner cannot be comprehended, and believing in it is obligatory,” agrees with the statement of the others: “Let them stand as they have come, without specifying how.” They denied knowledge of the manner, not the reality of the attribute. Had they believed only in the bare wording, without understanding its meaning in a sense befitting Allah, they would not have said, “Rising over the Throne is not unknown, and its manner cannot be comprehended.” Nor would they have said, “Let them stand as they have come, without specifying how.” For rising over the Throne would then have been unknown rather than known, like the letters of the alphabet.

Furthermore, there is no need to deny knowledge of the manner if no meaning is understood from the wording. The need to deny knowledge of the manner arises only when the attributes are affirmed.

Furthermore, someone who denies the attributes known through revelation—or denies the attributes altogether—has no need to say, “Without specifying how.” Someone who says, “Allah is not over the Throne,” has no need to say, “Without specifying how.” Had the position of the early generations been to deny that the attributes actually exist, they would not have said, “Without specifying how.”

Furthermore, their statement, “Let them stand as they have come,” requires preserving what they signify, for they came as words conveying meanings. If they had no such signification, it would have been necessary to