1. BEWARE OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGIANS
The most dangerous and harmful things effecting the laypeople is the words of those who interpret (the texts wrongly) and those who negate Allah’s Attributes (Sifat) He mentioned for Himself. This is because the Prophets focused on establishing and affirming (ithbat) the Attributes of the Creator (al-Khaliq) in order to affirm the existence (wujuud) of Allah in the hearts of laypeople since the innate nature of mankind is acquainted with affirming the existence. Thus, when laypeople are first exposed to what negates all that, it will dismiss the affirmation from their hearts and cause them a greater harm. Those scholars whom laypeople claim to exalt Allah from defects, in reality are opposing and negating (nafi) the affirmation advocated by the Prophets (‘alayhum as-salani).
To explain the aforementioned point further, Allah, Most High, mentioned that He is above (istawa) His Throne— this is a cause for people to affirm (ithbat) the existence (wujud) of Allah; He said,
“And there will remain the Face of your Lord.” [al-Rahman (55):27]
And
“Rather, both His hands are extended.” [al-Maidah (5):64]
And
“and Allah has become angry with them.” [al-Fath (48):6]
And
“Allah is pleased with them…” [al-Bayyinah (98):8]
He also informed the Prophet that He descends to the lower sky, that the hearts of His servants are in between His two fingers,82 that He wrote the Torah with His Hand,83 and wrote a Book He placed near Him over the throne.84 When common people and the child hears all these evidences affirming [the Creator through His lofty Attributes and all that He affirms for Himself] and acquaint
themselves with these Attributes and descriptions based on their human senses (hass), they are told,
“There is nothing like unto Him.” [al-Shura (42): 11]
which erases from their hearts all that their imagination scripted in their hearts and minds keep the affirmative statements established alone.85 That is why the legislator [i.e. the Prophet laughed when he heard someone chanting some lines of poetry, one of which was, “and the Lord of all Worlds is on His Throne.” And someone else asked him, “Does our Lord laugh?” And he replied, “Yes He does.” And he said: “He is on His Throne like this [i.e. describing it with his hands].” All this is so he (the Prophet) establishes the existence of these Attributes and affirms them in the heart.
However, as most humans only know of the existence of a matter through their senses and experience of what they witness, this should be accepted from them until they understand the tanzih [i.e. exalting Allah from having defects or similarities with His creation]. But if a layperson whose heart has not yet established the affirmation [of Allah’s Existence and Attributes] is approached and it is said to him that; “Allah is neither above heaven nor on His Throne, it cannot be said that He has a Hand, His speech is an Attribute of His Essence, there are no similarities between His Attributes and what we have. His descent [to the lower sky] cannot be imagined, this will remove the glorification of the Qur’an from his heart and at the same time cause his heart not to establish the affirmation of the existence of Allah.
This is, without a doubt, a crime against the Prophets that nullifies the work they spent their lives on explaining to the people. Therefore, no scholar is allowed to approach the creed of a layperson whose heart is acquainted with affirming Allah and His Attributes because that will corrupt it and make it difficult to rectify.
As for scholars, we do not mind indulging in these details because we are assured they know the possibility that Allah’s Attributes renew, or that He rose over the throne similar to the human manner, or that He is carried by something or even described as being attached or touched or that He moves from one place to another.
The learned will also know that the meaning of flipping the hearts between two fingers means having control over the hearts because having something between two fingers indicates the absolute control over it.
And so this statement does not even require the interpreting of those who says fingers here are used to mean the good effect because, in all cases, the hearts are in between two Lordly effects; the maintaining and shifting
Nor do we need to have the interpretation of those who said His Hands mean Grace because if one understands that the purpose is to affirm an attribute and that He addressed us with what we know from this created world and that the examples were given according to what we know while we know with certainty that it is impossible for Him to have what our senses know, we would know the purpose for mentioning all that.
The best approach is to advise the laypeople to take all that as is without indulging into interpretation and that is to ensure the safety of affirmation in their hearts, which is what the righteous predecessors intended. Imam Ahmad forbade people to either say; “My utterance of the Qur’an is created” or “My utterance of the Qur’an is uncreated” because he wanted to assure the adherence of people [to the approach and method of the best generations] and keep the words of affirmation established as they are.
The most ignorant is he who weakens in the hearts of people what the Prophet intended for people to glorify. When the Prophet said, “Do not travel to the land of the enemy while carrying the Qur’an, he was referring to the book inside which the Qur’an is written.
Imam al-Shafi’i forbade the Muslim who is in the state of impurity to carry it even with a hook to maintain the glorification of the Qur’an. Thus, when a person who indulges in philosophy comes and says, “The speech is an Attribute of His Essence,” he is actually informing people that there is nothing in the book to respect and glorify, which stands against what the religion intended.
For this reason, it is vital to understand the context and purpose of religion as well as the intended meanings of Prophets (‘alayhi as-salaam) who forbade people to dig into what religion concealed; therefore the Prophet forbade people to discuss Divine Decree (al-Qadr) and forbade people to differ [on reciting the Quran] because such topics lead to harmful results. This is because the one who investigates Divine Decree, his limited mind will come to a point of either saying ‘Allah punishes for what He already Decreed’, thus shaking his belief as he will think this contravenes justice, or saving, ‘He did not Decree’ and so his faith and belief about Allah’s Power and Control will become shaky. For all these reasons, it was ordained for them to avoid indulging into these topics.
It someone argues; ‘you forbid us to know the facts and reality of things and simply order us to take no sides and to blindly follow (taqhd)!
I respond, ‘Not at all. I only inform you what religion ordains you to believe in it as a whole and not to investigate the details of (some of) it, searching for its true essence, though you know your limited human power makes you incapable of comprehending these details.
Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi as-salam) asked his Ford to show him how He brings the dead to life,
“My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” [al-Baqarah (2): 260]
So He showed him the dead becoming alive and did not show him how He brought the dead into life because his power and capacity are limited to comprehend it. Allah revealed and accepted that people submit and believe in it as a whole.
This was also the way of the Companions (radiy Allahu ‘anhum) who never talked or discussed or investigated the difference between the recited Qur’an and recitation of Qur’an, or reading the Qur’an and the readable— nor did they even say that Isithva means to conquer (istawla), or that descending means bestowing mercy! Rather, they were content and convinced with all statements that affirmed glorification in the hearts and leashed the hand of their imagination with the verse,
“There is nothing like unto Him.” [al-Shura (42):11]
The two Angels; Munkar and Nakir further ask each person in his grave about the general principles of, “Who is your Lord? What is your religion? And who is your Prophet?”
Whoever understands this chapter will be saved from the likening of what anthropomorphism (tashhih al-mujassima) advocates and the negation of deniers (ta’til al-mu’attala), and has positioned himself on the road of the first generation (salaf, with Allah lies all the success.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.