Imam Ahmad also narrated, saying: “Shurayh ibn al-Nu‘mān informed us: I heard ‘Abd Allāh ibn Nāfi‘ al-Sā’igh say: I heard Mālik ibn Anas say, ‘Allah is in heaven, and His knowledge is everywhere; no place is beyond His knowledge.’”

Al-Awzā‘ī was one of the four leading imams in the generation following the Successors: Mālik, the imam of the people of the Hijaz; al-Awzā‘ī, the imam of the people of Syria; al-Layth, the imam of the people of Egypt; and al-Thawrī, the imam of the people of Iraq. He reported that belief in Allah Most High being above the Throne, and in His attributes known through revelation, was widespread in the time of the Successors. He made this statement only after the emergence of Jahm, who denied that Allah is above His Throne and negated His attributes, so that people would know that the position of the early generations was contrary to his.

Al-Khallāl narrated through chains whose narrators were all imams, from Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah, who said:

“Rabī‘ah ibn Abī ‘Abd al-Rahmān was asked about the words of Allah Most High:

‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.’

‘How did He rise over it?’ He replied: ‘Rising over is not unknown, but its manner cannot be comprehended. The message is from Allah, conveying it is the Messenger’s duty, and believing it is ours.’”

This statement, or something similar, is also reported from Mālik ibn Anas, the student of Rabī‘ah ibn Abī ‘Abd al-Rahmān.

Al-Shāfi‘ī said: “The caliphate of Abū Bakr is a truth that Allah Most High decreed in His heaven, uniting the hearts of His servants upon it.” Were al-Shāfi‘ī’s statements on this subject to be collected, they would suffice.

Among al-Shāfi‘ī’s followers was ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Yahyā al-Kinānī al-Makkī, who wrote a book entitled “The Refutation of the Jahmiyyah,” in which he established “