the Book or in reports transmitted from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Mu‘tazilah said: ‘Allah rose over the Throne in the sense that He gained dominion over it.’” He also mentioned other views.

Abū al-Hasan al-Ash‘arī also said in his book entitled al-Ibānah fī Usūl al-Diyānah (An Exposition of the Foundations of Religion)—which his followers have stated was the last book he authored and upon which they rely when defending him against his critics:

“Chapter: An Exposition of the Position of the People of Truth and the Sunnah

If someone says, ‘You have rejected the positions of the Mu‘tazilah, the Qadariyyah, the Jahmiyyah, the Harūriyyah, the Rāfidah and the Murji’ah. Tell us, then, the position you hold and the religious beliefs you profess,’ he should be told:

‘The position we hold and the religious beliefs we profess consist in adhering to the words of our Lord, the Sunnah of our Prophet, and what has been transmitted from the Companions, the Successors and the imams of hadith. To these we hold fast. We affirm the positions held by Abū ‘Abd Allāh Ahmad ibn Hanbal—may Allah make his face radiant, raise his rank and grant him abundant reward—and oppose whatever contradicts his position. For he is the eminent imam and consummate leader through whom Allah made the truth manifest, repelled error, clarified the path, and suppressed the innovations of the innovators, the deviations of those who stray, and the doubts of the doubters. May Allah have mercy on him: a foremost imam, a revered man of high standing, and a great teacher who imparted understanding.’

Our position, in brief, is that we affirm belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, what they brought from Allah, and what trustworthy transmitters have related from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. We reject none of this;