The Quran affirms Allah's istiwa over the Throne, but it does not describe Him as a body sitting in a place or being carried like a creature. The objection becomes compelling only after adding meanings that the revelation itself neither states nor requires.
Why the objection seems powerful
The argument has a serious form. If "istawa" means ordinary sitting, then sitting seems to require a body, a location, and a transition from not sitting to sitting. Likewise, if angels carry the Throne, one might infer that they carry Allah. Reports mentioning Allah's "two right hands" may also sound bodily if read through the language of created things. Finally, some statements about the Throne being the first creation appear difficult to reconcile with the verse saying that it was upon water.
Those are legitimate questions about language and doctrine. But they do not establish the conclusion unless these expressions are interpreted in a creaturely way first.
What the Quran actually affirms
The Most Merciful istawa over the Throne.
Quran 20:5
The early scholars affirmed this verse as revelation, while refusing to ask how Allah does so. Other scholars explained istiwa in a contextually appropriate sense such as exalted dominion and authority. Both approaches reject the idea that Allah is a physical object occupying space.
There is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
Quran 42:11
This principle governs every divine attribute. Allah has a hand, hearing, sight, and other attributes in a manner befitting Him, not as bodily organs or created limitations. The expression "two right hands" therefore cannot be used to prove two physical limbs. The wording is affirmed without imagining anatomy, composition, or dependence.
Nor does the Quran say that Allah is borne by the angels. It says:
Those who carry the Throne and those around it glorify the praise of their Lord.
Quran 40:7
The angels carry the Throne, not Allah. The Throne is a created sign of His greatness, while Allah is independent of all creation. On the Day of Resurrection, eight will carry it, and angels will surround it; these passages describe the created order, not a need in Allah.
Does istiwa imply change or a contradiction about water?
"Sitting" is an English interpretation, not the only meaning of Arabic istawa. The revelation does not say Allah moved from standing to sitting, nor does it describe a bodily change. Divine acts occur by His will; that does not mean His essence becomes different, weak, or subject to time.
There is also no universally established doctrine that the Throne was the first created thing. Reports concerning the first creation have been discussed and interpreted by scholars. In any case, Quran 11:7 says that the Throne was upon water; it does not state a complete chronological account of every prior creation. The verse creates no contradiction unless one first assumes a particular physical model of the Throne and then treats that model as revelation.
Thus these texts establish Allah's absolute lordship and transcendence, not corporeality, location, dependence, or creaturely change. The safe approach is to affirm what Allah affirmed, deny resemblance to creation, and avoid inventing a "how" that revelation has not given us.