and that they contented themselves with reciting them without any reflection or attempt at understanding. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, exposed the falsity of this claim in his writings. True, the early scholars did not explain these verses in a manner tainted by anthropomorphic comparison (tashbīh) or by probing into the “how” (takayyuf); rather, they sternly forbade such approaches, as you will see later in the book in the words of Mālik and others. Al-Lālakāʾī relates in al-Sunnah ⦗1/91/2⦘ on the authority of the trustworthy Bishr ibn ʿUmar (d. 207 AH): “I heard more than one exegete say regarding the verse al-Raḥmān ʿalā al-ʿarsh istawā (the All-Merciful rose over the Throne): He rose over the Throne.”

44- He then transmitted with his chain from ʿImrān who said: I was in the company of the Prophet ﷺ when a group from Banū Tamīm arrived. He said, “Accept the glad tidings, O Banū Tamīm!” They replied, “You have already given us good news, so grant us something.” Then some people from Yemen entered and he said, “Accept the glad tidings, O people of Yemen, since Banū Tamīm would not accept them.” They answered, “We accept. We have come to gain understanding of the religion and to ask you about the beginning of this matter—what was it?” He said, “Allah was, and there was nothing before Him. His Throne was upon the water. He created the heavens and the earth, and He wrote down everything in the Record.” A man then came to me and said, “ʿImrān, catch your she-camel, she has run off!” I went out to look for her, and mirage after mirage stretched between me and her. By Allah, I wished she had truly gone and that I had not stood up!

I am gathering these textual proofs on the issue only as a formality for argument’s sake. Have you not heard the poet’s line:
Nothing that settles in the mind is sound
if bright noonday itself still needs a guide?

45- Ibn ʿAbbās said: “The kursī is the place for the two Feet, while no one can measure the full magnitude of the Throne.” Its transmitters are reliable. 36

36- Authentic as a mawqūf report. It was recorded by Ibn Khuzaymah in al-Tawḥīd (pp. 71–72), al-Dārimī in al-Radd ʿalā al-Marīsī (pp. 71, 73–74), Abū Jaʿfar Ibn Abī Shaybah in al-ʿArsh (114/2), and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad in al-Sunnah (p. 71), all through the isnād of Sufyān—ʿAmmār al-Duhnī—Muslim al-Baṭīn—Saʿīd ibn Jubayr—from him.

I say: This chain is sound; every one of its narrators is trustworthy.

It is also corroborated by Yūsuf ibn Abī Isḥāq from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī. Abū Shaykh records it in al-ʿAẓama ⦗33/1⦘, and he has a supporting narration there ⦗36/21⦘ from Abū Dharr, traced back to the Prophet.

46- Qays reported: When ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, arrived in Syria, the people came out to meet him while he was