narrating from him because he drank intoxicants.

130 – Abū Bakr ibn Shādhān (297–484 AH)

304 – The truthful ḥadith master, Imām Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Shādhān al-Baghdādī, said: “Someone I trust—and my son Abū ʿAlī wrote it down with me—told me:

‘We were washing a deceased man as he lay on his bier. When we uncovered the cloth from him, we heard him saying, “He is upon His Throne alone¹, He is upon His Throne alone.” We scattered in awe at the magnitude of what we heard; then we returned and completed his washing. May Allah have mercy on him.’”

Shaykh Muwaffaq al-Dīn included this story in his book Ṣifat al-ʿUlū; we received it by audition from Judge Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Khāliq on his authority.

Abū Bakr was one of the specialists in ḥadith and tradition², transmitting from al-Baghawī and his peers. He died in 383 AH.

His son al-Ḥasan was the principal ḥadith authority of Baghdad in his day; he passed away at the end of 425 AH.

131 – Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Mahdī, the theologian (? – ?)

305 – Imām Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Mahdī al-Ṭabarī, a student of al-Ashʿarī, said in his book Mushkil al-Āyāt, under the verse, “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne”:

“Know that Allah is in heaven, above everything; He is established over His Throne, meaning that He is exalted above it. The meaning of istiwāʾ is elevation, just as the Arabs say, ‘I istawāytu upon the back of the mount,’ and, ‘I istawāytu upon the roof,’ meaning I rose above it; ‘the sun istawāyat above my head,’ and, ‘the bird istawā over the crown of my head,’ meaning it soared in the air and was above my head. And Allah—”

¹ The narrator repeated the phrase exactly as written.
² lit. “reports and traditions.”