Fourth: He describes the Lord by the opposites of these attributes: the attributes of the dead and of inanimate things, or those of nonexistent things. He thereby denies the attributes of perfection that rightfully belong to the Lord, likens Him to deficient and nonexistent things, strips the texts of the attributes they signify, and makes their meaning out to be a likeness to created beings. Thus, in his treatment of Allah’s words and of Allah Himself, he combines denial of the divine attributes with likening Allah to creation, deviating concerning Allah’s names and signs.

An example is that all the texts indicate that Allah is exalted above created beings and that He rises over the Throne. His being above and distinct from created beings is known through reason in agreement with revelation; His rising over the Throne, however, is known through revelation.

Neither the Quran nor the Sunnah describes Him as neither within the world nor outside it, neither distinct from it nor intermingled with it. Yet someone under this misconception supposes that, if Allah is described as rising over the Throne, His doing so must resemble a person’s mounting ships and livestock, as in His words:

“and has made for you ships and livestock that you ride”

“so that you may settle upon their backs”.

He therefore imagines that, if Allah is over the Throne, He must need it just as someone riding a ship or an animal needs it: if the ship sank, its rider would fall, and if the animal stumbled, its rider would tumble down.

By this analogy, if the Throne ceased to exist, the Lord—glorified and exalted is He—would fall. Then, imagining that he is refuting this, he says: “His rising over the Throne is neither sitting nor settling.”