668 – I found in the handwriting of Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni—may Allah have mercy on him—from Ishaq al-Hadi, who said: I heard Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab say:

“Istawā may mean ‘turned toward,’ even where there is no crookedness: ‘Then He turned toward the heaven’ [al-Baqarah 2:29]—that is, He turned toward it. And ‘He istawā over the Throne’ [al-A'raf 7:54] means: He rose high. One says, ‘His face istawā,’ meaning that it became complete; ‘the moon istawā,’ meaning that it became full; and ‘Zayd and Amr istawā,’ meaning that they resembled one another; and their actions may be said to have istawā even if their persons do not resemble one another. This is what is known from the speech of the Arabs.”