[Imaam al-Bukhaaree narrates from] Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Firyaabee (d. 212H) [that he] said:
Whoever says Allaah is not above His Throne is a kaafir and whoever claims that Allaah did not speak to Moses is a kaafir.
And Muhammad bin Yusuf is the Shaykh of al-Bukhaaree, and he was from ash-Shaam.
Source: "Khalq Af'aal il-Ibaad" of Imaam al-Bukhaaree (p. 15).
Comment: The Salaf understood what the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah were attempting in the earlier period, and the later ones came out with it explicitly. They negated that Allaah is above the Throne because in their view it meant that Allaah is a jism (body), due to him being subject to the a'raad (incidental attributes) that are said to be of the created bodies (ajsaam). And likewise they negated that Allaah spoke to Moses because in their view this is a haadithah (even, occurrence) in the essence (dhaat) of Allaah, and hawaadith (occurrences) are only found in bodies (ajsaam).
And the reason why they denied these aspects of belief was because they had devised an intellectual proof against the Atheist Philosophers who were present in the Muslim lands and amongst whom the philosophy and metaphysics of the Greeks were well-known. And when they devised this proof called "Hudooth ul-Ajsaam" to illustrate that the universe is created due to all bodies (ajsaam) that make up the universe having qualities (sifaat), incidental attributes (a'raad) or occurrences (hawaadith), they were in turn forced to deny Allaah's Names, Attributes and Actions because all of that conflicted with and invalidated their proof.
But the Salaf understood what they were doing and all of the speech from the Salaf in condemnation of "kalaam" and "ilm ul-kalaam" is this intellectual proof that is called "Hudooth ul-Ajsaam" and whatever else followed on from it of innovated speech regarding Allaah the Most High.
To learn in more detail why the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah (and the Later Ash'aris) denied these things, please read:
