the Throne ever being vacated of Him, nor does the Throne end up above Him. Such a thing is impossible with respect to the descent of created beings, for their descent necessarily entails abandoning one place and occupying another. What Isḥāq has indicated is precisely what has been handed down from the early generations of this community and its leading scholars: that the Exalted One is perpetually above the Throne and the Throne is never devoid of Him, even as He draws near and descends to the lowest heaven. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said: “That is the correct view.” For a detailed treatment see his work Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl, pp. 42–59.

236 – Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī said: I heard Ḥamdān al-Sulamī and Abū Dāwūd al-Khaffāf say, “We heard Isḥāq say:
‘Ibn Ṭāhir said to me, “Abū Yaʿqūb, the report you transmit—‘Our Lord descends every night’—how does He descend?” I replied, “May Allah honour the emir: one does not ask ‘how’; He descends without ‘how.’”’”

205 – I say: Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī’s proper name was Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad; he was a trustworthy ḥāfiẓ who died in 325 AH. As for his shaykh Ḥamdān al-Sulamī, I have not been able to identify him, and the same holds for his counterpart Abū Dāwūd al-Khaffāf. My first thought was that he might be Abū ʿAmr Aḥmad ibn Naṣr ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khaffāf, the well-known ḥāfiẓ who died in 299 AH, for al-Samʿānī lists him under the entry “al-Khaffāf,” noting that he narrated from Ibn Rāhwayh and that Abū Ḥāmid ibn al-Sharqī transmitted from him. I therefore supposed that the kunya “Abū Dāwūd” in the printed text—and likewise in the manuscript—was a corruption of “Abū ʿAmr.” What kept me from stating this categorically is that, shortly, another narrator will appear with the very same kunya “Abū Dāwūd” and the personal name “Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd,” and the manuscript here reads: “Dāwūd al-Khaffāf Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd,” omitting the kunya particle. This makes it unlikely that the al-Khaffāf mentioned here is Aḥmad ibn Naṣr the ḥāfiẓ. At the same time, I have not yet discovered who he is; whoever possesses information about him, let him favour us with it and we shall be grateful.

237 – Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Rībāṭī say:
“I attended Ibn Ṭāhir’s session, where Isḥāq was also present. Isḥāq was asked about the ḥadith of the descent, ‘Is it authentic?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ One of the commanders then asked, ‘How does He descend?’ Isḥāq replied, ‘Affirm it first, and I will then describe the descent to you!’ The man said, ‘I affirm that He is above.’ Isḥāq then recited: ‘And your Lord will come with the angels, rank upon rank.’ (Q 89:22) Ibn Ṭāhir objected, ‘Abū Yaʿqūb, that will be on the Day of Resurrection.’ Isḥāq responded, ‘What prevents the One who will come on the Day of Resurrection from coming today?’”

206 – I say: This chain is sound. Al-Rībāṭī is trustworthy; he is among al-Bukhārī’s teachers and died in 246 AH.