“Rising over is known.” He thus described the individual term as known, not the entire sentence.

Moreover, he said: “How is unknown.” Had he meant that, he would have said, “The meaning of rising over is unknown,” “The explanation of rising over is unknown,” or “What rising over signifies is not known.” He denied only knowledge of how He rose over, not knowledge of rising over itself.

The same applies to everything with which Allah has described Himself. If someone asked, concerning His words:

“Indeed, I am with you both, hearing and seeing,”

“How does He hear, and how does He see?” we would reply: “Hearing and seeing are known; how is unknown.” If someone asked, “How did He speak directly to Moses?” we would reply: “Speaking is known; how is unknown.”

Furthermore, those among our associates and other scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah who have said this acknowledge that Allah is truly above the Throne, and that He Himself is above the Throne itself. They do not deny the meaning of rising over, nor do they consider it among the ambiguous passages whose meaning is entirely unknown. Moreover, the early generations agree on explaining it in accordance with the position of Ahl al-Sunnah.

Some of them said: “He rose above the Throne,” and “He was high above the Throne.” Others used different expressions. These explanations are reliably transmitted from the early generations; al-Bukhārī mentioned some of them in his Sahīh, towards the end of the Book of the Refutation of the Jahmiyyah. As for the interpretations that distort the meaning, such as “He took possession,” and the like, these are innovated interpretations introduced when the Jahmiyyah emerged.