al-Zāghūnī and others like them, that this wording was authentic. They therefore accepted it as transmitted and explained its meaning by saying that His rising over the Throne does not extend to that portion.

It is reported that Ibn al-‘Āyidh said: “It is the place where Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, will sit.”

Ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī transmitted the hadith in his Tafsīr, as did others, with the wording:

“He indeed sits upon it, and not even four fingers’ breadth of it remains to spare.”

This wording is negative. Even if the only difficulty in the hadith were the discrepancy between its two versions—one denying what the other affirms—it would still be impossible to state categorically that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, intended the affirmative meaning: that four fingers’ breadth of the Throne remains to spare, over which the Lord does not rise. This is a peculiar interpretation, with no corroboration whatsoever in any of the narrations. Rather, it implies that the Throne is greater and larger than the Lord. This is false and contrary to the Quran, the Sunnah and reason.

It also implies that one recognizes the Lord’s greatness only by magnifying the created Throne, while making the Throne greater than Him. Thus, the Lord would be deemed great only by comparison with a created thing that is greater than the Lord. This is an unsound meaning, contrary to what is known from the Quran, the Sunnah and reason. The Quran’s approach in this regard is to demonstrate the Lord’s greatness: He is greater than everything whose greatness one recognizes. It therefore mentions the greatness of created things and explains that the Lord is greater than they are.