بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrānī (may Allāh be pleased with him and grant him contentment) was asked:
What do you say about two men who differed in creed, where one of them said: “Whoever does not believe that Allāh is in the heaven is misguided,” and the other said: “Indeed Allāh, Free from imperfection, is not confined to a place,” and they are both Shāfiʿīs [in madhdhab]. So clarify for us what we should follow from the creed of al-Shāfiʿī (may Allāh be pleased with him), and what is correct in (this matter)?
He answered:
All praise is due to Allāh. The creed of al-Shāfiʿī (may Allāh be pleased with him) is the creed of the Salaf (predecessors), the Imāms of Islām, such as Mālik, al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, Ibn al-Mubārak, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, and it is the creed of the Mashāyikh (religious leaders) who are followed (and taken as examplars), such as al-Fudayl ibn ʿIyād, Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī, Sahl ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Tustarī, and others (like them). For indeed there is no dispute among these Imāms and their likes in the fundamentals of the religion (usūl al-dīn)…and the creed of these (Imāms) is what the Companions (al-Sahābah) and those who followed them in goodness (al-Tābiʿūn) adhered to, and it is what the Book and the Sunnah have expressed.
Al-Shāfiʿī said in the opening sermon of “al-Risālah”: “All praise is due to Allāh, who is as He has described Himself, and above what His creation describes Him as.” Thus he (may Allāh have mercy on him) clarified that Allāh is described by what He has described Himself with in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger (ﷺ).
Likewise, Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Allāh is not to be described except by what He has described Himself with or His Messenger has described Him with, not going beyond the Qurʾān and the Hadīth.
And this is the methodology of all of them – that they describe Allāh (only) with what He has described Himself with and what His Messenger has described Him with, without distortion (tahrīf) or negation (taʿtīl), and without asking how (takyīf) or likening (tamthīl). Rather, they affirm for Him what He has affirmed for Himself of the Beautiful Names (al-Asmāʾ al-Husnā) and the Lofty Attributes (al-Sifāt al-ʿUlā), and they know that there is nothing like Him – not in His Essence, nor in His Attributes, nor in His Actions. For just as His Essence is not like created essences, His Attributes are not like created attributes. Rather, He, Free from imperfection, is described with attributes of perfection, high above every deficiency and fault.
He, Free from imperfection, in (His) attributes of perfection, nothing resembles Him. He is Ever-Living (Hayy), Self-Sustaining (Qayyūm), All-Hearing (Samīʿ), All-Seeing (Basīr), All-Knowing (ʿAlīm), All-Powerful (Qadīr), Most Kind (Raʾūf), Bestower of Mercy (Rahīm), and He is the One who created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, then He rose over (istawā ʿalā) the Throne (al-ʿArsh), and He is the One who spoke to Mūsā with speech, and manifested Himself to the mountain and made it collapse (and crumble to dust).
And nothing from among things resembles Him in anything from His attributes. His knowledge is not like anyone’s knowledge, nor His power like anyone’s power, nor His mercy like anyone’s mercy, nor His rising over (istiwāʾ) like anyone’s rising over, nor His hearing and seeing like anyone’s hearing or seeing, nor His speaking like anyone’s speaking, nor His manifestation like anyone’s manifestation.
And Allāh, free from imperfection and Most High, has informed us that in Paradise (al-Jannah) there is meat, milk, honey, water, silk, and gold. And Ibn ʿAbbās said: There is nothing in the world from what is in the Hereafter except the names. So if the absent (unseen) created things are not like these (worldly created things) despite their agreement in names, then the Creator’s Highness above and separateness from His creation is greater than the separateness of the created from the created, even if the names are in agreement.
And He, free from imperfection and Most High, has said in His Book:
“Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven (fī al-samāʾ) will not cause the earth to swallow you and suddenly it would sway? Or do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven will not send against you a storm of stones? Then you will know how (severe) was My warning.” (al-Mulk:16-17)
And it is established in the Sahīh from the Prophet (ﷺ) that he said to the slave-girl: “Where is Allāh?” She said: “In the heaven.” He said: “Who am I?” She said: “You are the Messenger of Allāh.” He said: “Free her, for indeed she is a believer.” This hadīth was narrated by Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim in his Sahīh, and others.
However, the meaning of this is not that Allāh is inside the interior of the heaven, and that the heavens confine Him and encompass Him, for no one from the Salaf of the Ummah and its Imāms has said this. Rather, they are in agreement that Allāh is above His heavens, upon His Throne, separate from His creation. There is nothing of His Essence in His creation, nor anything of His creation within His Essence.
So whoever believes that Allāh is inside the heaven, confined and encompassed by it, or that He is in need of the Throne or other than the Throne from creation, or that His rising over (istiwāʾ) His Throne is like the rising over of the created being upon his chair – then he is misguided, an innovator, and ignorant.
And whoever believes that there is no deity (ilāh) above the heavens to be worshipped, and no Lord (Rabb) upon the Throne to be prayed to and prostrated to, and that Muhammad was not ascended to his Lord [i.e. during the Isrā wal-Mi’rāj], and the Qurʾān did not descend from His presence – then he is a negator (muʿattil), Pharaonic, misguided, an innovator. For Pharaoh (Firʿawn) denied Mūsā regarding his Lord being above the heavens, and said:
“O Hāmān, construct for me a tower that I might reach the ways – the ways into the heavens – so that I may look at the deity of Mūsā; but indeed, I think he is a liar.” (al-Ghāfir:36-37)
And Muhammad (ﷺ) affirmed what Mūsā (said) that his Lord is in the heavens. So when it was the night of the ascension (al-Miʿrāj) and he was ascended to Allāh, The Most-High, and his Lord obligated upon him fifty prayers, he mentioned that when he returned to Mūsā, he (Mūsā) said to him:
“Return to your Lord and ask Him for lessening for your nation, for indeed your nation cannot endure that.” (Agreed upon – Sahīh al-Bukhārī 349 and Sahīh Muslim 163)
So he returned to his Lord and He lessened ten from him. Then he returned to Mūsā and informed him of that, so he said:
“Return to your Lord and ask Him for lessening for your nation.”
So whoever agrees with Pharaoh and opposes Mūsā and Muhammad is misguided, and whoever likens Allāh to His creation is misguided.
Nuʿaym ibn Hammād said: Whoever likens Allāh to His creation has disbelieved, and whoever denies what Allāh has described Himself with has disbelieved. And what Allāh has described Himself with and His Messenger (has described Him with) is not likening (tashbīh).
Allāh The Most-High has said:
“To Him ascends the good word, and righteous work raises it.” (al-Fātir:10)
And He said:
“O ʿĪsā, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself.” (al-‘Imrān:55)
The one who said: “Whoever does not believe that Allāh is in the heaven is misguided” – if he intended by that whoever does not believe that Allāh is inside the interior of the heaven such that it confines Him and encompasses Him, then he has erred.
But if he intended by that whoever does not believe what the Book and Sunnah have conveyed and what the Salaf of the Ummah and its Imāms agreed upon – that Allāh is above His heavens, upon His Throne, separate from His creation – then he has spoken correctly. For whoever does not believe that becomes a denier of the Messenger (ﷺ), following other than the way of the believers. Rather, he becomes in reality a negator (muʿattil) of his Lord, denying Him. So he does not in reality have a deity to worship nor a Lord to ask and seek. And this is the statement of the Jahmiyyah and their likes from the followers of Pharaoh, the negator.
And the one who said: “Indeed Allāh is not confined to a place” – if he intended by it that Allāh is not confined inside the creation, or that He is not in need of anything from it – then he has spoken correctly. But if he intended that Allāh is not above the heavens, and He is not upon the Throne, and there is no deity there to be worshipped, and Muhammad did not ascend to Allāh – then this is a Jahmī, Pharaonic negator.
The source of misguidance is the assumption that the Lord’s attributes are like the attributes of His creation, so one supposes that Allāh, free from imperfection, is upon His Throne like the created king upon his chair. This is likening (tamthīl) and misguidance. That is because the (created) king is in need of his chair, and if his chair were removed he would fall. But Allāh is Independent/Self-Sufficient of the Throne and of everything, and the Throne and all besides Him are in need of Allāh. He is the Sustainer of the Throne and the bearers of the Throne, and His Highness above it does not necessitate His need for it.
The fundamental principle in this topic is that everything established in the Book of Allāh or the Sunnah of His Messenger is obligatory to believe in it, such as the Lord’s Highness (ʿulū) and His rising over (istiwāʾ) His Throne and similar matters.
As for innovated expressions in negation and affirmation, such as the statement of one saying: “He is in a direction (jihah)” or “He is not in a direction,” and “He takes a defined space” or “He doesn’t take a defined space,” and similar expressions which people have disputed about, while none of them has a specific text – neither from the Messenger, nor from the Companions, nor from the Tābiʿūn in goodness, nor from the Imāms of the Muslims – for none of them said: “Indeed Allāh is in a direction,” nor did they say: “He is not in a direction”; nor did they say: “He takes a defined space,” nor did they say: “He does not take a defined space”; nor did they say: “He is a body (jism) or substance (jawhar),” nor did they say: “He is not a body nor a substance.” These expressions are not stated in the Book, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the consensus (ijmāʿ). Those who use them may intend a correct meaning, and they may intend a corrupt meaning. So whoever intends a correct meaning that agrees with the Book and Sunnah, that meaning is accepted from him. And if he intends a corrupt meaning that contradicts the Book and Sunnah, that meaning is rejected from him.
So when someone says: “Indeed Allāh is in a direction,” it is said to him: What do you intend by that? Do you intend by it that He is in an existing direction that confines Him and encompasses Him, such as being inside the interior of the heaven? Or do you intend by “direction” something non-existent, which is what is above the world? For there is nothing from creation above the world. If you intend the existential direction and make Allāh confined within creation, then this is false. But if you intend the non-existent direction and intend that Allāh alone is above creation, separate from it, then this is true, and there is nothing in that from creation that confines Him or encompasses Him or is elevated above Him. Rather, He is The One who is above them, encompassing of them.
The people regarding this are of three categories: the people of indwelling and unification, the people of negation and denial, and the people of faith (īmān), tawhīd, and the Sunnah.
The people of indwelling say: He is by His Essence in every place, and they may say (the doctrine of) union and oneness, so they say: The existence of creation is the existence of the Creator, as is the doctrine of Ibn ʿArabī, author of “al-Fusūs,” and Ibn Sabʿīn and their likes.
As for the people of negation and denial, they say: He is neither inside the world nor outside it, neither separate from it nor indwelling in it, neither above the world nor in it, nothing descends from Him and nothing ascends to Him, nothing draws near to Him and nothing approaches Him, He does not manifest to anything and no one sees Him, and similar (statements).
This is the statement of the theologians (mutakallimah) of the Jahmiyyah, just as the first (view) is the statement of the worshippers (ʿubbād) of the Jahmiyyah. The theologians of the Jahmiyyah worship nothing, and the worshippers of the Jahmiyyah worship everything. Both of them return to negation and denial, which is the statement of Pharaoh.
It is known that Allāh existed before He created the heavens and earth, then He created them. So either He entered into them – and this is indwelling which is false; or they entered into Him – and this is even more false; or He is separate from them, not entering into them nor they into Him – and this is the statement of the people of truth, tawhīd, and the Sunnah.
The people of indwelling, negation and denial have many specious arguments…the source of their misguidance is their speaking with ambiguous general terms that have no basis in the Book of Allāh or the Sunnah of His Messenger, nor did any of the Imāms of the Muslims say them – like the terms “taking a defined space” (mutahayyiz), “body” (jism), “direction” (jihah), and similar terms. So whoever is knowledgeable in resolving their specious arguments/doubts should clarify (the truth to) them, and whoever is not knowledgeable in that should turn away from their speech, and not accept except what the Book and Sunnah convey, as The Most-High said:
“And when you see those who engage in false talk concerning Our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversation.” (al-An’ām:67)
And whoever speaks about Allāh, His Names, and His Attributes with what contradicts the Book and Sunnah, he is among those who engage in false talk concerning the signs of Allāh with falsehood.
Many of these people attribute to the Imāms of the Muslims what they did not say. They attribute to al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Mālik, and Abū Hanīfah beliefs they did not state, and they say to those who follow them: “This is the creed of Imām so-and-so.” But when they are challenged for authentic transmission from the Imāms, their lying in that becomes clear, just as their lying becomes clear in what they transmit from the Prophet (ﷺ) regarding many innovations and false statements.
For mentioning the term “body” (jism) regarding Allāh’s Names and Attributes is an innovation; no Book or Sunnah has uttered it, nor did any of the Salaf of the Ummah and its Imāms say it. None of them said: “Indeed Allāh is a body,” nor “Indeed Allāh is not a body,” nor “Indeed Allāh is a substance,” nor “Indeed Allāh is not a substance.”
(Abridged, Jāmi’ al-Masāil 3/195-209
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