risen above His seven heavens is a disbeliever in Him whose blood may lawfully be shed. He is to be called upon to repent: if he repents, so be it; otherwise, he is to be beheaded and cast onto a rubbish heap.”’”

Shaykh Abū ‘Uthmān said:

“The scholars of hadith affirm that the Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven, without likening His descent to that of created beings, asserting any equivalence, or specifying its manner. Rather, they affirm what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, affirmed, and go no further than what he taught concerning it. They accept the authentic report mentioning it according to its apparent meaning and entrust knowledge of it to Allah, glorified and exalted be He. Likewise, they affirm what Allah has revealed in His Book concerning His coming—expressed by the terms majī’ and ityān—as mentioned in His words, Most High:

‘Are they waiting for anything but for Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds?’

And His words, mighty and majestic is He:

‘And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank.’”

He said: “Abū Bakr ibn Zakariyyā informed us: I heard Abū Hāmid al-Sharqī say: I heard Hamdān al-Sulamī and Abū Dāwūd al-Khaffāf say: We heard Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Hanzalī say: ‘The emir ‘Abd Allāh ibn Tāhir said to me: “O Abū Ya‘qūb, concerning this hadith that you narrate from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—‘Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven’—how does He descend?”

‘I replied: “May Allah honour the emir! One does not ask ‘how’ concerning the Lord’s actions. He simply descends, without our specifying how.”’”

He said: “I also heard Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Hāfiz say: I heard Abū Zakariyyā Yahyā ibn Muhammad al-‘Anbarī say: I heard Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Tālib say: I heard Ahmad ibn Sa‘īd ibn Ibrāhīm, Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Ribātī, say: ‘One day, I attended the gathering of the emir ‘Abd Allāh ibn Tāhir