and it is Imām Isḥāq who is addressing you with this.

202 – I say: Abū Ṣāliḥ’s given name was Hāshim, as al-Ḥākim reports. Concerning his son Ibrāhīm, Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim said, “He is a Jahmite; his ḥadith is not to be written.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ states in Lisān al-Mīzān: “Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh declared him a liar in the gathering of ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Ṭāhir.” I say: He seems to be alluding to this very incident, yet the version in our possession contains no explicit declaration of Isḥāq’s charging him with falsehood; perhaps that wording occurs in another chain, for al-Harawī has cited it (fol. 118/1–2) through additional routes.

203 – I say: This means that the chain is of the highest soundness—almost as though you were hearing the report directly from Imām Isḥāq himself. Aḥmad ibn Salamah is the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Faḍl al-Naysābūrī, the travel-companion of Muslim; he was an accomplished memoriser and died in 286 AH. Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ is among al-Ḥākim’s teachers from whom he narrates extensively in his al-Mustadrak ʿalā al-Ṣaḥīḥayn. From the author’s wording cited above he appears to be utterly reliable, a conclusion reinforced by the author’s statement in the Arbaʿīn (fol. 179/2) regarding this same incident: “Al-Ḥākim narrated it with a sound chain.” I have, however, not yet found a separate biography for him.

This report is also recorded by al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt (p. 452) through al-Ḥākim’s route, and the author has already declared it authentic.

235 – Al-Najjād said: Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Abbār narrated to us, ʿAlī ibn Khushram narrated to us, Isḥāq narrated:

I entered upon Ibn Ṭāhir, who said, “What are these ḥadith you people relate—that Allah descends to the lowest heaven?” I replied, “Indeed, they have been transmitted by the trustworthy narrators who also relay the legal rulings.” He said, “He descends and leaves His Throne behind?” I said, “He is able to descend without the Throne being vacated of Him.” He responded, “Yes.” I then said, “So why do you raise an objection to this?”

204 – I say: Its chain is sound; every one of its transmitters is trustworthy. Al-Bayhaqī also produced it (pp. 451–452) through another route from Isḥāq in abridged form, and Ibn Taymiyyah attributed it to Ibn Baṭṭah in his Commentary on the Ḥadith of the Descent and ruled it authentic.

Benefit: In Isḥāq’s statement, “He is able to descend without the Throne being vacated of Him,” there is an indication that the divine descent is not like the descent of created beings: He descends to the lowest heaven without