Al-Dāraqutnī died in 385 AH at the age of eighty1 years. He used to say, “Nothing is more detestable to me than the science of kalām.”2
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I say: Even if this chain were proven—and that is most unlikely! (see comment no. 191)—there remains in the isnād leading to al-Dāraqutnī a certain Yaḥyā ibn Yūsh, or Būsh, or Nūsh, or something similar; in the manuscript the first letter is indistinct, and, as noted before, I have found no biographical notice for him. As for Ibn Kādis, he is Abū al-ʿIzz Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Kādish, a muddled transmitter; consult al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah, no. 870.
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Ibn Mandah (316–395 AH)
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The erudite ḥadith-master of the East, Imām Abū ʿAbd Allah Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Mandah al-ʿAbdī al-Iṣbahānī—author of Kitāb al-Tawḥīd3, Kitāb al-Ṣifāt, Kitāb al-Īmān4, Kitāb al-Nafs wa-l-Rūḥ, Kitāb Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah, and other works—said:
“He, exalted be He, is described yet never unknown, existent yet beyond sensory grasp, seen yet never encompassed. Because of His nearness it is as though you behold Him—He is near without touching, and far without being cut off.5 He hears and He sees; He is in the loftiest station and has risen over the Throne. Hearts acknowledge Him, minds cannot determine His modality, and He encompasses all things.”
- I also note that among the chapters of his Kitāb al-Tawḥīd ⦗117/2⦘ is one entitled: “Another clarification proving that Allah, exalted is He, is above His Throne, separate from His creation.” He then cited the ḥadith, “When Allah finished the creation…,” a report already mentioned under no. 21⦗ز⦘. He likewise recorded a similar narration in Kitāb al-Īmān ⦗13/2⦘, together with the ḥadith of the slave-girl.