as in the other hadith recorded in the Sunan collections of Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī and elsewhere—the hadith concerning the creaking of the Throne—when the Bedouin said:

“‘We seek Allah’s intercession with you, and your intercession with Allah Most High.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, glorified Allah until its effect could be seen on his Companions’ faces. Then he said: ‘Woe to you! Do you know what you are saying? Do you know who Allah is? Allah’s majesty is far greater than that. His Throne is above His heavens like this’—and he gestured with his hand to indicate a dome—‘and indeed it creaks under Him as a new saddle creaks under its rider.’”

He thus explained the greatness of the Throne and that it is above the heavens like a dome. He then explained how small it is before Allah’s greatness, and that it creaks under Him as a new saddle creaks under its rider. This affirms the greatness of the Throne while showing that the Lord is greater still.

Likewise, it is reported in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Are you astonished at Saʿd’s jealousy? I am more jealous than he, and Allah is more jealous than I.”

He also said:

“No one is more jealous than Allah. For that reason, He has forbidden indecencies, both open and secret.”

There are many such examples. This and other evidence indicate that the correct version of the report is the negative one: it mentions the greatness of the Throne, yet despite that greatness, the Lord has risen over all of it, with not even four fingers’ breadth remaining to spare.

This is the lower limit of the bodily measures used to measure area, just as a corresponding measure is used in weighing. Thus one says: “There is not a palm-sized patch of cloud in the sky.” People measure dimensions by the armspan and the cubit, and the smallest measure they have is