“I have observed that the adherents of ittihād—that is, the Sufis who profess the doctrine of the unity of existence—venerate his words in Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn. They claim he sides with them, tastes their spiritual ecstasy, and alludes to their philosophical mysticism! How could that be, when he is a champion of the Sunnah whose mainstay is the legacy of the early generations? It is true that Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn contains passages about sheer effacement and annihilation, yet by ‘annihilation’ he simply means being absent from witnessing anything other than Allah, not the actual non-existence of created things. In sum, this book represents a different genre altogether from the model unanimously followed by the Sufis among the Successors and the ascetics steeped in ḥadith. Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path.”

311 – I say: This agrees with the year of birth that I placed beside the biographee’s name, citing it from al-Tadhkira by the author—may Allah have mercy on him—whereas it differs from what is found in al-Shadharāt, 3/365, which states that he died at the age of eighty. Allah knows best.

159 – al-Qayrawānī “?–?”

340 – The Imām Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥaḍramī¹ al-Qayrawānī, the theologian and author of the treatise al-Imāʾ ilā Masʾalat al-Istiwaʾ (“A Hint on the Question of Rising over the Throne”), there related the statement of Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr, Abū Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd, Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, and a group of leading jurists and ḥadith scholars that Allah, exalted is He, is established upon the Throne in His very Self.

He said:

“They also stated in some places that He is above His Throne. Then he added: ‘This is the sound position that I uphold—without delimitation, without occupying a place, without being contained therein, and without physical contact.’”

I say: Negating or affirming such particulars rests entirely on transmitted evidence. If something has been reported, we voice it; otherwise silence and restraint are more in keeping with the conduct of the salaf. Delving into this ventures into specifying the how, which is unknowable. Likewise, we seek refuge in Allah from affirming His rising as involving contact or settlement without textual proof or report. Rather, we know in general that He is above His Throne, as the revealed texts have stated.

312 – I say: This is precisely what the author of the ode Badʾ al-Amālī meant when he said:

“The Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, yet
Without the description of settlement or connection.”