of other writers on the Sunnah. Had Mālik been among those who withhold judgment or those who negate, this affirmation would not have been transmitted from him.

The statement made by Mālik had already been made by his teacher, Rabī‘ah ibn Abī ‘Abd al-Rahmān, as transmitted from him by Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Salamah al-Mājishūn also made a lengthy statement establishing the position of affirmation and refuting those who negate. We have cited it elsewhere.

The Mālikīs’ statements condemning the Jahmiyyah who negate the divine attributes are well known in their books. The statements of the Mālikī imams and their early scholars affirming the divine attributes are likewise numerous and well known. Their scholars even reported the consensus of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah that Allah Himself is above His Throne. Ibn Abī Zayd merely stated what the other imams of the early generations had stated, and none of the Mālikī imams disagreed with him on this point. He included this in the introduction to al-Risālah so that it would be taught to all Muslims, since the imams of the Sunnah regarded it as one of the beliefs that everyone should be taught.

Only followers of the Jahmiyyah who negate the divine attributes objected to “Ibn Abī Zayd” on this point. Those who opposed him did not base their opposition on its being an innovation or contrary to the Quran and Sunnah. Rather, those who opposed Ibn Abī Zayd and others like him claimed that what he said was contrary to reason. They said: “Ibn Abī Zayd was not proficient in the discipline of speculative theology, through which one knows what is and is not possible with respect to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”