253 – The compiler cited it in his book, pp. 49–50, but I have likewise left it out here because the report is weak. The author of this abridgement already hinted at that earlier, under report 85.

254 – Item 200; its chain of transmission is weak, as I clarified in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfa, no. 3453.

103 – “Abū Jaʿfar” Ibn Abī Shaybah (d. 297 AH; date of birth unknown).

268 – Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah al-ʿAbsi, the foremost ḥadīth scholar of Kufah in his day—though some critics spoke against him—wrote a book on the Throne, in which he said:

“They report that the Jahmiyyah claim there is no barrier between Allah and His creation, deny the Throne and the fact that Allah is above, and say, ‘He is in every place.’ The scholars therefore explained the verse ‘and He is with you’ as meaning: by His knowledge. Recurrent, corroborated reports affirm that Allah, exalted is He, created the Throne and then rose over it; He is above the Throne, wholly distinct and separate from His creation.”

Abū Jaʿfar died in 297 AH. He was a contemporary of Aḥmad ibn Yūnus and his peers.

255 – A manuscript copy of his book is preserved in the Ẓāhiriyyah Library, catalogue no. 297 (Ḥadīth).

104 – Sahl al-Tustarī (203–283 AH).

269 – Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAlī al-Aylī said: I heard Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allah in Basra, in 280 AH, say:

“Reason alone does not guide one to the knowledge of an Eternal, Ever-Living Being who is above a newly created Throne that the Truth has set up as a sign and a proof, so that hearts may be led by it to Him and not seek to go past it—namely, through the light of guidance that the Truth has placed within them. Nor has He burdened them with knowing the reality of His essence; hence there is no ‘how’ to His rising over it. It is impermissible for a believer to ask, ‘How is the rising?’ about the One who created the very notion of rising. His duty is acceptance and submission to the Prophet’s statement (peace and blessings be upon him): ‘Indeed, He, exalted is He, is upon the Throne.’

“A heretic (zindīq) is so called only because he weighs the subtleties of words with his deranged mind, abandons the transmitted tradition, and interprets the Quran according to his whim; by doing so he ceases to believe that Allah is upon His Throne.”