The Imaam, Abu Abdullaah bin Battah al-Ukbaree, the author of "al-Ibaanah al-Kubraa" regarding the Sunnah - and it is in four volumes - said: Abu al-Hasan [Ahmad] bin Zakariyyaa bin Yahyaa as-Saajee said: My father said:
The saying regarding the Sunnah that I saw our Companions upon, the people of hadeeth whom we met is that Allaah, the Most High, is
above His Throne, above His heaven, and He comes close to His creation however He wills...
And he quoted all of the creed.
And as-Saajee was the Shaykh of al-Basrah and its Haafidh, and it is from him that Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari took the knowledge of hadeeth and the positions of Ahl us-Sunnah. He (as-Saajee) traveleld to al-Muzanee and ar-Rabee' and acquired fiqh (of the deen) through them both, and he has a book called "Ilal al-Hadeeth", and the book, "Ikhtilaaf al-Fuqahaa". He met Abu ar-Rabee' az-Zahraanee and his generation and he lived for eighty and some years, he died in 307H.
Source: "Mukhtasar al-Uluww" of Imaam adh-Dhahabee, p. 223.