from such a conception: either there is an istiwāʾ (rising over) that befits the Majesty of Allah and is unique to Him—so that none of the false corollaries that need to be negated for ordinary bodies follow from it. This is just like the assertion of the anthropomorphist who says, “If the universe has a Maker, He must be either a substance or an accident, for nothing else can even be conceived,” or who says, “If He is upon the Throne, then His being upon it must resemble a man sitting on a couch or riding in a vessel, for no other form of sitting is known.” Both parties are guilty of anthropomorphism, and both have stripped away the true reality of what Allah has described of Himself: the first by abolishing every genuine sense of istiwāʾ, and the second by affirming an istiwāʾ that is peculiar to created beings.

The decisive word belongs to the middle course taken by the balanced community: that Allah is upon His Throne in a manner that befits His Majesty and is unique to Him. Just as He, exalted is He, is described as All-Knowing of everything, All-Powerful over everything, Hearing and Seeing, and the like—while it is impermissible to ascribe to His knowledge or power the contingent features that pertain to the knowledge and power of created beings—so too He is above the Throne, and none of the characteristics that attach to one created thing being above another, along with their necessary implications, may be ascribed to His exaltedness.

Know that there is nothing in sound reason, nor in any authentic textual proof, that obliges one to depart in the least from the way of the early generations.

I say: As for the sound transmitted proof, that is precisely the topic of the abridged work of Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī now before you. In it you will find evidence that brings you to near-certainty, confirming that the Qur’anic verses, Prophetic hadiths, and reports of the Salaf are all agreed that Allah, exalted be He, is above His Throne in His very Self, distinct from His creation, while He is with them through His knowledge. God willing, you will also see that the imams of the recognized schools, their earliest disciples, and those who followed their path down to the latter part of the sixth century AH, concurred in their fatwas and statements on affirming Allah’s loftiness above His Throne, above His creation, and above every place; and that this—just as it is mass-transmitted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ 1—is likewise unanimously upheld by the early predecessors and the past imams among the hadith scholars and jurists.