Abdullah ibn Nafi’ reported: Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked about the saying of Allah Almighty, “The Most Merciful rose above the Throne,” (20:5). The man said, “How is His rising?” Malik said, “The rising is acknowledged, its modality is unknown, and asking about it is an innovation. I see you are a man who intended evil with this question.”
Source: al-Istidhkār 2/529
Ibn Abdul Barr said, “The people of the Sunnah agreed upon affirming the divine attributes as reported in the Book and the Sunnah, interpreting them as reality and not as a metaphor, except that they do not ask ‘how’ is the modality of any of that.”
Source: al-‘Ulūw lil-‘Alī al-Ghaffār 1/250
عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ نَافِعٍ قَالَ سُئِلَ مَالِكٌ رحمه الله عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى قَالَ كَيْفَ اسْتَوَى فَقَالَ اسْتِوَاؤُهُ مَعْلُومٌ وَكَيْفِيَّتُهُ مَجْهُولَةٌ وَسُؤَالُكُ عَنْ هَذَا بِدْعَةٌ وَأَرَاكَ رَجُلَ سُوءٍ
2/529 الاستذكار
قَالَ ابْنُ عَبْدِ الْبَرِّ أَهْلُ السُّنَّةِ مُجْمِعُونَ عَلَى الإِقْرَارِ بِالصِّفَاتِ الْوَارِدَةِ كُلِّهَا فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَالسُّنَّةِ وَالإِيمَانِ بِهَا وَحَمْلِهَا عَلَى الْحَقِيقَةِ لَا عَلَى الْمَجَازِ إِلَّا أَنَّهُمْ لَا يُكَيِّفُونَ شَيْئًا مِنْ ذَلِكَ
1/250 العلو للعلي الغفار
