Explanation of the author's statement: "So, the meaning of Allah's rising above His Throne is His being above it and His settling upon it, a being above and a settling that befits His majesty and greatness

The Shaykh : Let us look at the rising of Allah above the Throne: did it come with "to" (ila) or "on" (ala) the Throne? It did not come with "to" in any of the places; there are seven places in the Qur'an regarding the rising above the Throne, and all of them came with "on" (ala) and "upon it" (alayh). "So, the meaning of Allah's rising above His Throne is His being above it and His settling upon it, a being above and a settling that befits His majesty and greatness". This is the meaning of "He rose above the Throne," meaning He was above it and settled upon it. As for being above it, a person may not find it objectionable, but regarding settling upon it, some scholars from among the people of the Sunnah rejected it, even though it came from the Salaf. However, they rejected it, saying: "It is not befitting that we describe Allah as having settled upon this thing, the Throne, because settling upon a thing may imply that the one who settles has a need for it". Based on this, we say that "He rose above the Throne" means He was above it in a specific way, a being above that befits His majesty, and it is not the absolute being above all creation. But we say that if it came from the Salaf, we take it, and it does not follow from the meaning of Allah's rising above the Throne as settling upon it that Allah has a need for it. It does not follow, because the Throne and all creation have a need for Allah.
Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in his *al-Nuniyyah* that it came from the Salaf with four meanings: meaning He was above, meaning He rose, meaning He ascended, and meaning He settled. We omitted "ascended" and "rose" because "was above" suffices for them; "was above" suffices for them, and "settled," a being above that befits His majesty and greatness, is not like our rising above a ship, a camel, or a car, because when we rise above these things, we have a need for them, is that not so? And if they were removed from under us, we would fall. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is above the Throne and He has no need for it; rather, the Throne and the other created things have a need for Allah. And he says: "... and it is among His attributes of action". It is an attribute of action because it is related to His will, and anything related to the will of Allah among His attributes is an attribute of action, because the essential attributes are necessary and do not separate from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The evidence that the rising is an attribute of action is the saying of the Exalted: What is the indication? That His saying "then" indicates that the rising was after it was not; He created, then He rose. If it was after it was not, the attribute became an attribute of action.