is known, but its manner is unknown.” In another wording: “His rising over the Throne is known—or intelligible—but its manner is not comprehensible. Belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation.”

He thus stated, may Allah be pleased with him, that rising over the Throne itself is known, while its manner is unknown. This is precisely the position of those who affirm. As for “those who negate,” they affirm no rising over the Throne whose manner could be unknown. Rather, this doubting speaker and others like him hold that rising over the Throne is unknown, not known. If rising over the Throne were unknown, there would be no need to say that its manner is unknown—especially if rising over the Throne were denied altogether, since what is denied and nonexistent has no manner that could be described as known or unknown. Mālik’s words explicitly affirm rising over the Throne, that it is known, and that it has a manner. That manner, however, is unknown to us; we do not know it.

For this reason, he declared the questioner who asked him about this manner an innovator. For a question can only concern something known to us, whereas we do not know the manner of His rising over the Throne. Not everything that is known and has a manner necessarily has a manner known to us.

This is further clarified by the fact that Mālikī scholars and others transmitted that Mālik said: “Allah is in heaven, and His knowledge is everywhere.” Indeed, Makkī, the preacher of Cordoba, included this in the Book of Quranic Commentary that he compiled from Mālik’s statements. It was also transmitted by Abū ‘Amr al-Talamankī, Abū ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Ibn Abī Zayd in The Abridgment, and several others. Countless others besides these also transmitted it from Mālik, including Ahmad ibn Hanbal, his son ‘Abd Allāh, al-Athram, al-Khallāl, al-Ājurrī, Ibn Battah, and groups