Those Who Claim Allah (s.w.t.) is on the Throne are Not of the Hanbali Madzhab

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy (r.a.) said, “Whoever says, ‘He is established on the Throne in person’, has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception.  Such a person must not neglect that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively.  If you said, ‘We read the ahadits and keep quiet, no one would criticise you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous.  Therefore, do not bring into the school of this pious man of the Salaf, Imam Ahmad, that which does not belong in it.  You have clothed this madzhab with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said ‘Hanbali’ except in the sense of ‘anthropomorphist’.” 

And yet, this is exactly what has happened with the Wahhabi sect when they claim to be of the Hanbali madzhab, and people believe them.  Imam ibn al-Jawzy (r.a.) also said, “Then they say, ‘We take them according to their external senses.’  O wonder!  What is the ‘external sense’ of what Allah Alone Knows?  Is the ‘external sense’ of istiwa’ other than sitting down?  And is the ‘external sense’ of nuzul other than displacement? 

They said, ‘He is Established on the Throne ‘in person.’’  But this addition is not related by anyone!  It is only what they understood with their senses, namely, that one is not established other than with his own person.”