…affirming Allah’s transcendence and His being above all of His creatures, whereas the Muʿtazili claims that his Lord is present in every one of these places. He even alleges that He is in the sleeve of his garment, in his mouth, in his pocket, in his very body, in his cup, in his cooking pot, in his various containers and utensils, indeed in locations from which we deem Allah, blessed and exalted, far above being ascribed. Ibn Taymiyyah – may Allah have mercy on him – states in his Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 5/121: ‘Allah, Exalted be He, has described Himself in His Book and on the tongue of His Messenger with transcendence (ʿuluww), with istiwaʾ (rising) over the Throne, and with fawqiyyah (being above) in numerous verses. One of the leading followers of al-Shafiʿi even said: “In the Quran there are a thousand or more proofs that Allah is high above the creation and over His servants.”’ Shaykh al-Islam likewise quoted the words of many imams who affirmed Allah’s elevation and that He rose over the Throne – among them Ibn Kullab, al-Ashʿari, al-Baqillani, the judge Abu Yaʿla, Ibn Rushd, Abu Nasr al-Sijzi, Abu ʿUmar al-Talamanki, Nasr al-Maqdisi, Abu Nuʿaym al-Isbahani, Abu Ahmad al-Karkhi, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Muʿammar b. Ahmad al-Isbahani, Ibn Abi Hatim, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Qurtubi, Abu Bakr al-Naqqash, Abu Bakr al-Khallal, ʿAbd Allah b. Ahmad, Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi, Abu Hanifa, ʿAbd Allah b. al-Mubarak, Ibn Khuzayma, Rabiʿa b. Abi ʿAbd al-Rahman, Malik b. Anas and many others. Ibn al-Qayyim – may Allah have mercy on him – in Ijtimaʿ al-Juyush al-Islamiyyah, p. 96, records the Quranic proofs for Allah’s istiwaʾ over His Throne: ‘This Book of Allah from beginning to end, the Sunnah of His Messenger – peace and blessings be upon him – the general statements of the Companions and Followers, and the words of all the other imams are filled with explicit or implicit texts affirming that Allah, glorified be He, is above everything, that He is above the Throne, above the heavens, having risen over His Throne.’ He then cited verses already mentioned earlier when quoting Ibn Battah in al-Ibana, and went on to list the proofs from the Sunnah. He mentioned the story of the Miʿraj, in which the Messenger – peace and blessings be upon him – ascended, passing through the heavens one by one until he reached his Lord, who brought him near and favored him. He also quoted the hadith: ‘When Allah created the creation He wrote in a Book that is with Him above the Throne: “My mercy prevails over My wrath.”’ Another wording says: ‘It is written with Him above the Throne.’ He further cited the hadith: ‘Allah does not sleep, nor is it appropriate for Him to sleep; He lowers the balance and raises it; the deeds of the night are raised to Him before those of the day, and the deeds of the day before those of the night; His veil is light – were He to remove it, the radiance of His Face would burn…’