I say: What the writer cited and attributed to Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—had already been attributed to him by the writer’s first teacher, al-Kawtharī1. This pupil took it from him and inherited it. In truth, this is the passing down of lies and slander against the imams of the Muslims and the scholars of the Sunnah. For these were not Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah’s own words; rather, this expression appeared within a lengthy passage he quoted from the imam and hadith master Abū Saʿīd al-Dārimī, in his discussion and refutations of the obstinate Bishr al-Marīsī. The latter claimed that Allah is not above the Throne, relying on a flawed analogy in which he compared Allah with the Throne and its size and weight.
I shall quote al-Dārimī’s words here in full, so that the deceit and lies of the writer and his teacher may be exposed.
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—said:
“ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī said in his refutation of al-Marīsī and his companion:
‘Even more astonishing than this is your measuring Allah against the Throne—its size and weight, whether small or large. Like blind children, you claimed that Allah is larger than the Throne, smaller than it, or equal to it. If Allah is smaller, then you have made the Throne greater than Him; if He is larger than the Throne, then you have claimed that He extends beyond it; and if He is equal to it, then the heavens and the earth, when added to the Throne, would be larger. All this alongside the absurdities he utters, the nonsense he toys with, and the errors by which he leads others astray. Had there been one who knew what was due to Allah, he would have cut away the skin of his tongue. What disappointment for a people whose jurist and respected authority is this man—with all this discernment and reasoning, and all these follies and errors!
The answer to this boastful babbler is: Allah is greater than everything and greater than all creation. The Throne did not bear Him by virtue of its own size or strength, nor did the bearers of the Throne