Part One
The creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah in summary
First Issue: The Words Nuzūl, Majīʾ and Kursī in Language
Nuzūl in language is descent from above to below. Majīʾ and ityān are coming and arriving. The Arabs know no descent that is not from a height, and no coming that is not of the one who comes. When Allah said, “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank”, He mentioned His own coming and the coming of the angels separately. Whoever says that “your Lord comes” means “the command of your Lord comes” has to explain why the coming of the angels was mentioned at all, when the angels are the ones who bring the command.
The Kursī in language is what one sits on and sets one's feet upon, and the word comes from a root meaning to gather and to pile up. Ibn ʿAbbās explained it: the Kursī is the place of the two Feet, and the Throne, no one can estimate its measure. The Kursī is not the Throne, and it is not the knowledge of Allah, as some later people said. Allah said: “His Kursī encompasses the heavens and the earth.”
Part Two
The texts of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah
Second Issue: The Descent in the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ
Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, saying: Who calls upon Me, so that I answer him? Ibn Mandah narrates the ḥadīth with his own chain to Mālik, and Abū ʿAwānah heads a chapter of his Mustakhraj with the Descent of the Lord to the lowest heaven. ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī states that the reports are mass-transmitted and must be believed without modality, without likening, without taʾwīl, and without an “exaltation” that negates the reality of descent.
Al-Bukhārī reported in his Ṣaḥīḥ:
Our Lord, blessed and exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, saying: Who is calling upon Me, that I may answer him? Who is asking of Me, that I may give him? Who is seeking My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?
al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ no. 1145 (al-Sulṭāniyyah 2/53); also 6321, 7494; Muslim 758
Source, chain and authenticity
Authentic. It is in the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī, and the ummah received the two Ṣaḥīḥs with acceptance; its full chain is given in the Arabic above.
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Ibn Mandah said in Kitāb al-Tawḥīd:
… I read to Mālik ibn Anas, from Ibn Shihāb, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Agharr and Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Our Lord descends to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who calls upon Me, that I may answer him? Who asks Me, that I may give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?
Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd (ed. al-Faqīhī) 3/291, Ibn Mandah's own chain to Mālik; the chapter continues on 3/292–293
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قَالَ اللهُ ﷿: ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الله فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الغَمَامِ﴾، قَالَ عَبْدُ الله بْنُ عَبَّاسٍ: يَأْتِ اللهُ ﷿ يَوْمَ القِيَامَةِ وَيَأْتِيهِمْ فِي سَحَابٍ قَدْ قُطِعَ.
٨٦٦ - أَخْبَرَنَا أَحمَدُ بْنُ عَمْرٍو أَبُو الطَّاهِرِ، حَدثنا يُونُسُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى، حَدثنا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، وَأَخْبَرَنَا عُمَرُ بْنُ الرَّبِيعِ بْنِ سُلَيْمَانَ، حَدثنا بَكْرُ بْنُ سَهْلٍ، حَدثنا عَبْدُ الله بْنُ يُوسُفَ، أَخْبَرَنَا مَالِكٌ. ح وَأَخْبَرَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ نَصْرٍ، حَدثنا أَحمَدُ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ، قَالا: حَدثنا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ قُتَيْبَةَ، حَدثنا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، قَالَ: قَرَأْتُ عَلَى مَالِكِ بْنِ أَنَسٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ.. وَأَبِي عَبْدِ الله الأَغَرِّ، وَأَبِي سَلَمَةَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنّ رَسُولَ الله ﷺ قَالَ: يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الآخِرِ، فَيَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبُ لهُ، مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيهِ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرُ لهُ.
رواه قتيبة عن مالك فقال: ...
Abū ʿAwānah said in Mustakhraj:
Chapter: Explaining the descent of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, to the lowest heaven; that Allah does not sleep; that He lowers the scale and raises it; that the deeds of the day are raised to Him every day and the deeds of the night every night; and the proof that the Prophet ﷺ was veiled by the light of the Lord of Might from looking at His Face, Blessed and Exalted is He.
Abū ʿAwānah, Mustakhraj 2/112
Source, chain and authenticity
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī said in al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād:
The reports are mass-transmitted and the narrations authentic that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, descends every night to the lowest heaven; so it is obligatory to believe in it, submit to it, abandon objecting to it, and pass it on without modality (takyīf), without likening (tamthīl), without interpretation (taʾwīl), and without an 'exaltation' that negates the reality of descent.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād p. 100
Source, chain and authenticity
Third Issue: The Cost of Affirming It
When ʿAbd al-Ghanī read these ḥadīths in Damascus, the judges and scholars of the theologians objected, and the governor asked him whether all of them were astray and he alone upon the truth. He answered: Yes.
Al-Dhahabī said in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ:
فَعقدُوا لَهُ مَجْلِساً، فَنَاظرهُم، فَأَخذُوا عَلَيْهِ موَاضِع، مِنْهَا: قَوْلُهُ: لاَ أُنزهه تَنزِيهاً يَنفِي حَقِيْقَة النُّزَول، وَمِنْهَا: كَانَ اللهُ وَلاَ مَكَان، وَلَيْسَ هُوَ اليَوْم عَلَى مَا كَانَ، وَمِنْهَا: مَسْأَلَة الْحَرْف وَالصّوت، فَقَالُوا: إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ عَلَى مَا كَانَ، فَقَدْ أَثْبَت لَهُ المَكَان، وَإِذَا لَمْ تنَزهه عَنْ حقِيْقَة النُّزَول، فَقَدْ جوزت عَلَيْهِ الانتقَالَ، وَأَمَّا الْحَرْف وَالصّوت فَلَمْ يَصحَّ عَنْ إِمَامك (٢) ، وَإِنَّمَا قَالَ إِنَّهُ كَلاَم اللهِ، يَعْنِي غَيْر مَخْلُوْق.
وَارتفعت الأَصوَات، فَقَالَ وَالِي القَلْعَة الصَّارم برغش: كُلّ هَؤُلاَءِ عَلَى ضلاَلَة وَأَنْت عَلَى الحَقِّ؟
قَالَ: نَعَمْ.
فَأَمر بِكسّر مِنْبَره.
And Abū al-Muẓaffar the preacher [Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī] mentioned in Mirʾāt al-Zamān, saying: al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī used to read hadith after the Friday prayer. The judge Muḥyī al-Dīn, the preacher Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn and a group gathered and went up to the citadel and said to its governor: “This man has misled the people and teaches anthropomorphism (tashbīh).” So they convened a session for him and he debated them. They took him to task on points, among them his statement: “I do not exalt Him (lā unazzihuhu) with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent”; and among them: “Allah was when there was no place, and He is not today as He was”; and among them: the question of letter and sound. They said: “If He is not as He was, then you have affirmed a place for Him; and if you do not exalt Him above the reality of descent, then you have permitted transfer (intiqāl) for Him; and as for letter and sound, that is not authentic from your imam — he only said that it is the Speech of Allah, meaning uncreated.” Voices were raised, and the governor of the citadel, al-Ṣārim Barghash, said: “All of these are astray and you are upon the truth?” He said: “Yes.” So he ordered his pulpit to be broken.
al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 21/463; the Dār al-Ḥadīth edition 16/32
Source, chain and authenticity
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فَلَمَّا رَآهَا الكَامِل، قَالَ: أَيش أَقُوْل فِي هَذَا يَقُوْلُ بقول الله وَقول رَسُوْله ﷺ؟!
قُلْتُ (١) : وَذَكَرَ أَبُو المُظَفَّرِ الوَاعِظ فِي (مِرَآة الزَّمَانِ) ، قَالَ: كَانَ الحَافِظ عَبْد الغَنِيِّ يَقرَأُ الحَدِيْث بَعْد الجُمُعَة، قَالَ: فَاجْتَمَعَ القَاضِي مُحْيِي الدِّيْنِ، وَالخَطِيْب ضِيَاء الدِّيْنِ، وَجَمَاعَة، فَصعدُوا إِلَى القَلْعَة، وَقَالُوا لوَالِيهَا: هَذَا قَدْ أَضلّ النَّاس، وَيَقُوْلُ بالتّشبيه.
فَعقدُوا لَهُ مَجْلِساً، فَنَاظرهُم، فَأَخذُوا عَلَيْهِ موَاضِع، مِنْهَا: قَوْلُهُ: لاَ أُنزهه تَنزِيهاً يَنفِي حَقِيْقَة النُّزَول، وَمِنْهَا: كَانَ اللهُ وَلاَ مَكَان، وَلَيْسَ هُوَ اليَوْم عَلَى مَا كَانَ، وَمِنْهَا: مَسْأَلَة الْحَرْف وَالصّوت، فَقَالُوا: إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ عَلَى مَا كَانَ، فَقَدْ أَثْبَت لَهُ المَكَان، وَإِذَا لَمْ تنَزهه عَنْ حقِيْقَة النُّزَول، فَقَدْ جوزت عَلَيْهِ الانتقَالَ، وَأَمَّا الْحَرْف وَالصّوت فَلَمْ يَصحَّ عَنْ إِمَامك (٢) ، وَإِنَّمَا قَالَ إِنَّهُ كَلاَم اللهِ، يَعْنِي غَيْر مَخْلُوْق.
وَارتفعت الأَصوَات، فَقَالَ وَالِي القَلْعَة الصَّارم برغش: كُلّ هَؤُلاَءِ عَلَى ضلاَلَة وَأَنْت عَلَى الحَقِّ؟
قَالَ: نَعَمْ.
فَأَمر بِكسّر مِنْبَره.
قَالَ: وَخَرَجَ الحَافِظ إِلَى بَعْلَبَكَّ، ثُمَّ سَافر إِلَى مِصْرَ ... ، إِلَى أَنْ قَالَ:
فَأَفتَى فُقَهَاء مِصْر بِإِباحَة دَمه، وَقَالُوا: يُفسد عقَائِد النَّاس، وَيذَكَرَ التّجسيم.
فَكَتَبَ الوَزِيْر بنفِيه إِلَى المَغْرِب، فَمَاتَ الحَافِظ قَبْل وُصُوْل الكِتَاب.
Fourth Issue: The Coming in the Book of Allah
Imām Aḥmad cited “Do they await but that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds” and “And your Lord comes, with the angels rank upon rank” as proof that Allah will be seen. Abū Yaʿlā explains that the proof holds only if the coming belongs to Allah Himself.
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
[121] Aḥmad said in the report of Abū Ṭālib: 'Do they await but that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds and the angels' [2:210], 'And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank' [89:22] — so whoever says that Allah is not seen has disbelieved. The apparent sense of this is that Aḥmad affirmed the coming of His Essence, because he used it as proof of the possibility of seeing Him, and that can only be proof if the arrival and coming are ascribed to the Essence.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 158 no. 121
Source, chain and authenticity
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١٢٠ - وقد قال أحمد في رواية حنبل في قوله ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ﴾ قال: قدرته قال أبو إسحاق بن شاقلا هذا غلط من حنبل لا شك فيه، وأراد أبو إسحاق بذلك أن مذهبه حمل الآية على ظاهرها في مجيئ الذات هذا ظاهر كلامه والله أعلم.
١٢١ - وقد قال أحمد في رواية أبي طالب ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠] ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا﴾ [الفجر: ٢٢] فمن قال أن الله لا يرى فقد كفر وظاهر هذا أن أحمد أثبت مجيئ ذاته، لأنه احتج بذلك على جواز رؤيته، وإنما يحتج بذلك على جواز رؤيته إذا كان الإتيان والمجيئ مضافًا إلى الذات.
[حديثٌ آخر في هذا المعنى في ألفاظه زيادة]
١٢٢ - رواه أبو بكر الخلال عن الحسن بن ناضح الخلال قال نا الأسود بن عامر شاذان قال نا حماد بن سلمة عن قتادة عن عكرمة عن ابن عباس أن النبي ﷺ "رأى ربه جل ثناؤه جعدًا قططًا أمرد في حلة حمراء" (¬١).
Fifth Issue: The Kursī in the Book of Allah and the Reports of the Companions
Al-Ḥākim narrates from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr from Ibn ʿAbbās that the Kursī is the place of the two Feet, and judges the chain authentic on the condition of al-Bukhārī and Muslim; al-Dhahabī agrees. Al-Dārimī cites the same report against al-Marīsī as the well-known, authentic explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās. Wakīʿ grew angry with a man who shuddered at ʿUmar's report about the Kursī, saying that al-Aʿmash and Sufyān narrated these ḥadīths without rejecting them.
Al-Ḥākim reported in al-Mustadrak:
Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maḥbūbī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh narrated to us: Abū ʿĀṣim narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from Muslim al-Baṭīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Kursī is the place of His two feet, and the Throne: its measure cannot be measured. [al-Ḥākim:] This ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ on the condition of the two Shaykhs, and they did not transmit it. [al-Dhahabī, Talkhīṣ:] On the condition of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak 2/310 no. 3116 (ed. al-ʿIlmiyyah); ed. al-Risālah 4/145 (1424/2567). Gradings: al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī, as stated
Source, chain and authenticity
Al-Dārimī said in Naqḍ:
(٨٤) حَدَّثَنَاه عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَيَحْيَى الحِمَّانِيُّ، عَنْ وَكِيعٍ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ عَمَّارٍ الدُّهْنِيِّ، عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ البَطِينِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بن جُبَير، عَن ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: «الكُرْسِيُّ مَوْضِعُ القَدَمَيْنِ، وَالعَرْشُ لَا يُقَدِّرُ قَدْرَهُ إِلَّا الله ﷿» (٢).
فَهَذَا الَّذِي عَرَفْنَاهُ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ صَحِيحًا مَشْهُورًا.
We have narrated, O Marīsī, from the trustworthy, well-known imams, from Ibn ʿAbbās, on the explanation of 'the foot', the opposite of the interpretation you claimed. (84) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Shayba and Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī narrated it to us, from Wakīʿ, from Sufyān, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from Muslim al-Baṭīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: 'The Kursī is the place of the two feet, and the Throne: no one can measure its measure except Allah, Mighty and Majestic.' This is what we know from Ibn ʿAbbās as authentic and well known.
al-Dārimī, Naqḍ (ed. al-Shawāmī) p. 146 no. 84; ed. al-Almaʿī 1/395–401
Source, chain and authenticity
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وَادَّعَيْتَ أَيُّهَا المَرِيسِيُّ أَنَّ الحَدِيثَ حَقٌّ، وَمَعْنَاهُ عِنْدَكَ: أَنَّهَا لَا تَمْتَلِئُ حَتَّى يَضَعَ الجَبَّارُ قَدَمَهُ فِيهَا، فَقُلْتَ: مَعْنَى «قَدَمِهِ»: أَهْلُ الشِّقْوَةِ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَ لَهُمْ فِي عِلْمِهِ أَنَّهُمْ صَائِرُونَ إِلَيْهَا، كَمَا قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ -بِبَاطِلِ زَعْمِكَ- فِي تَفْسِيرِ قَوْلِ الله تَعَالَى: ﴿وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنَّ لَهُمْ قَدَمَ صِدْقٍ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ﴾ [يونس: ٢] قَالَ: «مَا قَدَّمُوا مِنْ أَعْمَالِهِمْ».
فَقَدْ رَوَيْنَا أَيُّهَا المَرِيسِيُّ عَنِ الثِّقَاتِ الأَئِمَّةِ المَشْهُورِينَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ﵄ فِي تَفْسِيرِ القَدَمِ خِلَافَ مَا ادَّعَيْتَ مِنْ تَأْوِيلِكَ هَذَا.
(٨٤) حَدَّثَنَاه عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَيَحْيَى الحِمَّانِيُّ، عَنْ وَكِيعٍ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ عَمَّارٍ الدُّهْنِيِّ، عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ البَطِينِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بن جُبَير، عَن ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: «الكُرْسِيُّ مَوْضِعُ القَدَمَيْنِ، وَالعَرْشُ لَا يُقَدِّرُ قَدْرَهُ إِلَّا الله ﷿» (٢).
فَهَذَا الَّذِي عَرَفْنَاهُ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ صَحِيحًا مَشْهُورًا.
فَمَا بَالُكَ تَحِيدُ عَنِ المَشْهُورِ المَنْصُوصِ مِنْ قَوْله وتتعلق بالمغمور مِنْهُ، الملتبس الَّذِي يتَحَمَّل المعَانِي.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
587 — My father narrated to me: Wakīʿ narrated to us the hadith of Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, from ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “When the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sits upon the Kursī…” A man, whom my father named, shuddered in Wakīʿ's presence; Wakīʿ became angry and said: “We found al-Aʿmash and Sufyān narrating these hadiths, not rejecting them.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/302 no. 587
Source, chain and authenticity
Part Three
Principles drawn from the evidence
Sixth Issue: The Rules Concerning the Attributes of Action
The first rule: the attributes of action are those that Allah does when He wills, such as descending, coming, rising over the Throne, being pleased and being angry. Ahl al-Sunnah affirm them as real, and they say that Allah is not hindered from doing what He wills when He wills.
The second rule: the Descent does not mean that the Throne is left empty of Him. Imām Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh and others answered this question: He descends as He wills, and He is above the Throne. Whoever imagines that the Descent of Allah is like the descent of a creature, which leaves one place for another, has likened first, and then denied what he had likened.
The third rule: Pleasure and Anger, Love and Hatred, are attributes of Allah in their reality. The Ashʿarīs interpret them as the will to reward or punish. But Allah distinguished between them and His will: He said, “That is because they followed what angered Allah and hated what pleased Him, so He made their deeds worthless.” The anger came first, and the voiding of the deeds came from it.
Part Four
The claims of the opponents and their refutation
“His command descends”
The claim
The Descent is the descent of His command, His mercy, or an angel.
The response
The one who descends says: “Who calls upon Me, so that I answer him? Who asks of Me, so that I give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, so that I forgive him?” Neither a command nor an angel says this, and an angel who said it would be claiming lordship. ʿAbd al-Ghanī stated the rule: belief without modality, without likening, without taʾwīl, and without an “exaltation” that negates the reality of descent.
Interpreting the Descent as the descent of the command is one of the taʾwīls that the imams of the daʿwah list as belonging to the Ashʿarīs, beside interpreting the Istiwāʾ as conquering and the Hands as powers. They answer all of them with one principle: Allah is described with what He described Himself with, and nothing of it is understood in the way creatures are understood.
The imams of the Najdī daʿwah said, in an answer preserved in al-Durar al-Saniyyah:
الأعضاء والجوارح، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوا كبيرا.
فيحصل بذلك: إثبات ما وصف به نفسه في كتابه، وفي سنة رسوله ﷺ؛ ويحصل أيضا نفي التشبيه والتكييف في صفاته، ويحصل أيضا ترك التأويل، والتحريف، المؤدي إلى التعطيل، ويحصل أيضا إثبات الصفات على ما يليق بجلال الله وعظمته، لا على ما نعقله نحن من صفات المخلوقين، وأما الأشاعرة فيؤلون النصوص الواردة في كتاب الله وسنة رسوله، فيؤلون الاستواء بالاستيلاء، والنّزول بنُزول الأمر، واليدين بالقدرتين والنعمتين، والقدم بقدم صدق، وأمثال ذلك.
As for Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah, they describe Allah with everything with which He described Himself, as befits His majesty and greatness. They affirm the Descent, as the authentic Sunnah came with it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: “Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains” to the end. They affirm the attribute of the two Hands as befits His majesty and greatness, and likewise the attribute of the noble Face, as befits His majesty and greatness, and likewise the Laughter that the Sunnah came with, the Wonder, the Anger, the Pleasure, the two Handfuls and the Fingers. They describe Allah with what He described Himself with or what His Messenger described Him with, and from all of that they understand only what befits Allah and His greatness, not what befits creatures of limbs and organs — exalted is Allah far above that. By this is attained the affirmation of what He described Himself with in His Book and in the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ; and also the negation of likening and of asking how in His attributes; and also the abandonment of taʾwīl and taḥrīf that lead to taʿṭīl; and also the affirmation of the attributes as befits the majesty and greatness of Allah, not according to what we understand of the attributes of creatures. As for the Ashʿarīs, they interpret the texts that came in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger: they interpret the Istiwāʾ as conquering (istīlāʾ), the Descent as the descent of the command, the two Hands as the two powers and the two blessings, the Foot as a “foot of truthfulness”, and the like.
An answer of the imams of the Najdī daʿwah preserved in al-Durar al-Saniyyah, Kitāb al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt, 3/25–26
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والسنوسي قد خالف أئمة السنة في هذه المسألة ; وعبارته في أم البراهين قال: ومما تستحيل في صفته تعالى عشرون صفة، فذكر منها: وأن يكون في جهة ; قال الشارح لها، وهو محمد بن عمر التلمساني: هذا أيضا من أنواع المماثلة المستحيلة، وهي كونه تعالى في جهة، فلا يقال: إنه تعالى فوق العرش ; فقد تبين لك مخالفته السلف الصالح، ومنها: مسألة الصفات، فإن السنوسي أثبت الصفات السبع فقط.
وأما أهل السنة والجماعة فيصفون الله بجميع ما وصف به نفسه، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، فيثبتون النّزول، كما وردت بذلك السنة الصحيحة عن رسول الله ﷺ أنه قال: " ينْزل ربنا كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا، حين يبقى ثلث الليل "١ إلخ، ويثبتون صفة اليدين، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، وكذلك صفة الوجه الكريم، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، وكذلك الضحك الذي وردت به السنة، والتعجب، والغضب، والرضى، والقبضتان، والأصابع، فيصفون الله بما وصف به نفسه، أو وصفه به رسوله، ولا يفهمون من جميع ذلك إلا ما يليق بالله وعظمته، لا ما يليق بالمخلوقات من
الأعضاء والجوارح، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوا كبيرا.
فيحصل بذلك: إثبات ما وصف به نفسه في كتابه، وفي سنة رسوله ﷺ؛ ويحصل أيضا نفي التشبيه والتكييف في صفاته، ويحصل أيضا ترك التأويل، والتحريف، المؤدي إلى التعطيل، ويحصل أيضا إثبات الصفات على ما يليق بجلال الله وعظمته، لا على ما نعقله نحن من صفات المخلوقين، وأما الأشاعرة فيؤلون النصوص الواردة في كتاب الله وسنة رسوله، فيؤلون الاستواء بالاستيلاء، والنّزول بنُزول الأمر، واليدين بالقدرتين والنعمتين، والقدم بقدم صدق، وأمثال ذلك.
وأما أهل السنة والجماعة فيصفون الله بهذه الصفات، وغيرها، مما وصف به نفسه، ولا يحرفون الكلم عن مواضعه، ولا يكيفون، ولا يشبهون; والكلام عندهم في الصفات فرع على الكلام في الذات، فكما أن ذاته لا تشبه ذوات خلقه، فكذلك صفاته لا تشبه صفات خلقه، فإذا ثبت وصفه تعالى بالصفات السبع، على ما يليق بجلاله، فكذلك باقي الصفات.
وأما مسألة الحرف والصوت، فتساق هذا المساق، فإن الله تعالى: قد تكلم بالقرآن المجيد، وبجميع حروفه، فقال: "الم"، وقال: "المص"، وقال: " ق "؛ وكذلك جاء في الحديث: " فينادي يوم القيامة بصوت يسمعه من بعد، كما يسمعه من قرب "١، وفي الحديث: " لا أقول الم حرف، ولكن
“The Kursī is His knowledge”
The claim
The Kursī that encompasses the heavens and the earth is Allah's knowledge.
The response
The explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās that is authentic and well known is that the Kursī is the place of the two Feet, as al-Ḥākim and al-Dārimī transmit it with sound chains.
Part Five
The reports in full, with their sources
Ibn ʿAbbās: "The Kursī Is the Place of His Two Feet"
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in al-Sunnah:
1021. My father narrated to me: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Sufyān, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from Muslim al-Baṭīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said: The Kursī is the place of His two feet, and the Throne: no one can measure its measure.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah 2/454 no. 1021; also 1/301 (323/542)
Source, chain and authenticity
Here the chain runs through Aḥmad ← Wakīʿ ← Sufyān (al-Thawrī).
Al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak
Al-Ḥākim reported in al-Mustadrak:
Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maḥbūbī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh narrated to us: Abū ʿĀṣim narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from Muslim al-Baṭīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Kursī is the place of His two feet, and the Throne: its measure cannot be measured. [al-Ḥākim:] This ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ on the condition of the two Shaykhs, and they did not transmit it. [al-Dhahabī, Talkhīṣ:] On the condition of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak 2/310 no. 3116 (ed. al-ʿIlmiyyah); ed. al-Risālah 4/145 (1424/2567). Gradings: al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī, as stated
Source, chain and authenticity
Grading: 'ṣaḥīḥ on the condition of al-Bukhārī and Muslim' is al-Ḥākim's, endorsed by al-Dhahabī . Al-Dārimī calls it 'ṣaḥīḥ mashhūr' . Attribute the gradings to them.
Al-Bayhaqī, al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt
Al-Bayhaqī said in al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt:
859. … from ʿUmārah ibn ʿUmayr, from Abū Mūsā, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Kursī is the place of the two feet, and it creaks as a camel-saddle creaks. [al-Bayhaqī:] We have also narrated this from Ibn ʿAbbās, and we mentioned that its meaning, as we see it, is that it is placed relative to the Throne as the place of the feet relative to a couch (sarīr), and that there is no affirmation of a place for Allah, glorified be He, in it.
al-Bayhaqī, al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt 2/296–297 no. 859. Abū Mūsā's report also in al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān 4/538, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah (via al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm Aḥmad 3/307)
Source, chain and authenticity
Al-Ṭabarī reported in Jāmiʿ al-Bayān:
حدَّثني المثنَّى، قال: ثنا إسحاقُ، قال: ثنا أبو زُهَيرٍ، عن جُويبرٍ، عن الضَّحَّاكِ قولَه: ﴿وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ﴾ قال: كُرْسِيُّه الذي يُوضَعُ تحتَ العَرْشِ الذي يَجْعَلُ الملوكُ عليه أقدامَهم
Mūsā ibn Hārūn narrated to me: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād narrated to us: Asbāṭ narrated to us, from al-Suddī: 'His Kursī encompasses the heavens': the heavens and the earth are within the Kursī, and the Kursī is in front of the Throne, and it is the place of His two feet. … al-Muthannā narrated to me: Isḥāq narrated to us: Abū Zuhayr narrated to us, from Juwaybir, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on His word 'His Kursī encompasses the heavens and the earth': He said: His Kursī, which is placed beneath the Throne, on which kings put their feet.
al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān (ed. al-Turkī) 4/538, on al-Baqarah 255
Source, chain and authenticity
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حدَّثني عليُّ بنُ مُسلمٍ الطُّوسيُّ، قال: ثنا عبدُ الصمدِ بنُ عبد الوارثِ، قال: ثنى أبي، قال: ثنا محمدُ بنُ جُحَادةَ، عن سلَمةَ بن كُهَيلٍ، عن عُمارةَ بن عُميرٍ، عن أبي موسى، قال: الكُرْسيُّ مَوْضِعُ القدَمين، وله أَطِيطٌ كَأَطِيطِ الرَّحْلِ (¬١).
حدَّثني موسى بنُ هارونَ، قال: ثنا عمرُو بنُ حمادٍ، قال: ثنا أسباطُ، عن السديِّ: ﴿وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ﴾: فإن السماواتِ والأرضَ في جوفِ الكُرْسِيِّ، والكُرْسِيُّ بين يَدَيِ العَرْشِ، وهو مَوْضِعُ قَدَميْه (¬٢).
حدَّثني المثنَّى، قال: ثنا إسحاقُ، قال: ثنا أبو زُهَيرٍ، عن جُويبرٍ، عن الضَّحَّاكِ قولَه: ﴿وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ﴾ قال: كُرْسِيُّه الذي يُوضَعُ تحتَ العَرْشِ الذي يَجْعَلُ الملوكُ عليه أقدامَهم (¬٣).
حدَّثنا أحمدُ بنُ إسحاقَ، قال: ثنا أبو أحمدَ الزُّبَيْرِيُّ، عن سفيانَ، عن عمارٍ الدُّهْنيِّ، عن مسلمٍ البَطِينِ، قال: الكُرْسِيُّ مَوْضِعُ القدمَيْن (¬٤).
Two corrections in fairness, with the core argument kept. (1) 'The Ashʿarī scholars made up a forced explanation': the explanation is al-Bayhaqī's, explicitly marked 'fīmā narā' ('as we see it'). A comparison to kings' footrests already appears in al-Ḍaḥḥāk's report in al-Ṭabarī, though through Juwaybir, who is weak. So the reading is not invented from nothing; the Atharī objection is that it does not fit the wording 'mawḍiʿ qadamayhi' (His two feet). (2) The decisive points are: the wording 'His two feet' (Ibn ʿAbbās via al-Ḥākim and ʿAbd Allāh, and al-Suddī in al-Ṭabarī); al-Dārimī's use of the report against al-Marīsī's taʾwīl of the qadam ; and Abū ʿUbayd listing 'mawḍiʿ al-qadamayn' among the attribute reports that are 'true, we do not doubt them' . Al-Bayhaqī's reading turns on the shorter wording 'mawḍiʿ al-qadamayn' (the two feet), so set the two wordings and their chains side by side.
Al-Dāraquṭnī, al-Ṣifāt (Ed. al-Faqīhī)
Al-Dāraquṭnī reported in al-Ṣifāt:
فَقَالَ: هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثُ صِحَاحٌ حَمَلَهَا أَصْحَابُ الْحَدِيثِ والفقهاء بعضهم على بَعْضٍ، وهِيَ عِنْدَنَا حَقٌّ لَا نَشُكُّ فِيهَا، وَلَكِنْ إِذَا قِيلَ: كَيْفَ وَضَعَ قَدَمَهُ؟ وَكَيْفَ ضَحِكَ؟ قُلْنَا: لَا يُفَسَّر هَذَا وَلَا سَمِعْنَا أَحَدًا يُفَسِّرُهُ
57. Muḥammad ibn Makhlad narrated to us: al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad al-Dūrī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, when he mentioned the chapter narrated about the vision, the Kursī and the place of the two feet, our Lord's laughing at the despair of His servants while His change [for them] is near, where our Lord was before He created the heaven, and that Hell will not be filled until your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, places His foot in it and it says 'Enough, enough', and reports like these. He said: These ḥadīths are authentic; the people of ḥadīth and the jurists have carried them one from another, and they are true according to us; we do not doubt them. But if it is said: How did He place His foot? How did He laugh? we say: This is not explained, and we have not heard anyone explain it.
al-Dāraquṭnī, al-Ṣifāt (ed. al-Faqīhī) pp. 68–69 no. 57; ed. al-Ghunaymān p. 39; Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 53; al-Aṣbahānī, al-Ḥujjah 1/475
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٥٧ حدَّثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ٢، ثنا الْعَبَّاسُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الدُّورِيُّ٣ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عُبَيْدٍ الْقَاسِمَ بْنَ سَلَّامٍ٤، وَذَكَرَ الْبَابَ الَّذِي يروى في الرُّؤْيَةَ وَالْكُرْسِيَّ وَمَوْضِعَ الْقَدَمَيْنِ، وَضَحِكِ رَبِّنَا مِنْ قُنُوطِ عِبَادِهِ، وَقُرْبِ غِيَرِهِ، وَأَيْنَ كَانَ رَبُّنَا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَخْلُقَ السَّمَاءَ وَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَا تَمْتَلِئُ حَتَّى يَضَعَ رَبُّكَ ﷿ قَدَمَهُ فِيهَا فَتَقُولُ: قَطْ قَطْ، وَأَشْبَاهَ هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثِ.
فَقَالَ: هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثُ صِحَاحٌ حَمَلَهَا أَصْحَابُ الْحَدِيثِ والفقهاء بعضهم على بَعْضٍ، وهِيَ عِنْدَنَا حَقٌّ لَا نَشُكُّ فِيهَا، وَلَكِنْ إِذَا قِيلَ: كَيْفَ وَضَعَ قَدَمَهُ؟ وَكَيْفَ ضَحِكَ؟ قُلْنَا: لَا يُفَسَّر هَذَا وَلَا سَمِعْنَا أَحَدًا يُفَسِّرُهُ١.
٥٨ حدَّثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ، ثنا الْعَبَّاسُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الدُّورِيُّ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ يَحْيَى بن معين يقول: شهدت زكرياء بن عدي يسأل، وكيف؟ فَقَالَ: يَا أَبَا سُفْيَانَ إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثُ يَعْنِي مِثْلَ الْكُرْسِيِّ مَوْضِعِ الْقَدَمَيْنِ، وَنَحْوَ هَذَا. فَقَالَ وَكِيعٌ: أَدْرَكْنَا إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنَ أَبِي خَالِدٍ، وَسُفْيَانَ وَمَسْعُودًا٢ يُحَدِّثُونَ بَهَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثِ وَلَا يُفَسِّرُونَ شَيْئًا.
٥٩ حدَّثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ، ثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ الصَّاغَانِيُّ، ثنا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سُلَيْمَانَ لُوَيْنٌ٣ قَالَ: قِيلَ لِابْنِ عُيَيْنَةَ: هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثُ التي
Al-Dārimī, Naqḍ (Ed. al-Shawāmī)
Al-Dārimī said in Naqḍ:
(٨٤) حَدَّثَنَاه عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَيَحْيَى الحِمَّانِيُّ، عَنْ وَكِيعٍ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ عَمَّارٍ الدُّهْنِيِّ، عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ البَطِينِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بن جُبَير، عَن ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: «الكُرْسِيُّ مَوْضِعُ القَدَمَيْنِ، وَالعَرْشُ لَا يُقَدِّرُ قَدْرَهُ إِلَّا الله ﷿» (٢).
فَهَذَا الَّذِي عَرَفْنَاهُ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ صَحِيحًا مَشْهُورًا.
We have narrated, O Marīsī, from the trustworthy, well-known imams, from Ibn ʿAbbās, on the explanation of 'the foot', the opposite of the interpretation you claimed. (84) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Shayba and Yaḥyā al-Ḥimmānī narrated it to us, from Wakīʿ, from Sufyān, from ʿAmmār al-Duhnī, from Muslim al-Baṭīn, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: 'The Kursī is the place of the two feet, and the Throne: no one can measure its measure except Allah, Mighty and Majestic.' This is what we know from Ibn ʿAbbās as authentic and well known.
al-Dārimī, Naqḍ (ed. al-Shawāmī) p. 146 no. 84; ed. al-Almaʿī 1/395–401
Source, chain and authenticity
Al-Dārimī answers with this report as Ibn ʿAbbās's authentic explanation of qadam.
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وَادَّعَيْتَ أَيُّهَا المَرِيسِيُّ أَنَّ الحَدِيثَ حَقٌّ، وَمَعْنَاهُ عِنْدَكَ: أَنَّهَا لَا تَمْتَلِئُ حَتَّى يَضَعَ الجَبَّارُ قَدَمَهُ فِيهَا، فَقُلْتَ: مَعْنَى «قَدَمِهِ»: أَهْلُ الشِّقْوَةِ الَّذِينَ سَبَقَ لَهُمْ فِي عِلْمِهِ أَنَّهُمْ صَائِرُونَ إِلَيْهَا، كَمَا قَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ -بِبَاطِلِ زَعْمِكَ- فِي تَفْسِيرِ قَوْلِ الله تَعَالَى: ﴿وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنَّ لَهُمْ قَدَمَ صِدْقٍ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ﴾ [يونس: ٢] قَالَ: «مَا قَدَّمُوا مِنْ أَعْمَالِهِمْ».
فَقَدْ رَوَيْنَا أَيُّهَا المَرِيسِيُّ عَنِ الثِّقَاتِ الأَئِمَّةِ المَشْهُورِينَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ﵄ فِي تَفْسِيرِ القَدَمِ خِلَافَ مَا ادَّعَيْتَ مِنْ تَأْوِيلِكَ هَذَا.
(٨٤) حَدَّثَنَاه عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَيَحْيَى الحِمَّانِيُّ، عَنْ وَكِيعٍ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ عَمَّارٍ الدُّهْنِيِّ، عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ البَطِينِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بن جُبَير، عَن ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: «الكُرْسِيُّ مَوْضِعُ القَدَمَيْنِ، وَالعَرْشُ لَا يُقَدِّرُ قَدْرَهُ إِلَّا الله ﷿» (٢).
فَهَذَا الَّذِي عَرَفْنَاهُ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ صَحِيحًا مَشْهُورًا.
فَمَا بَالُكَ تَحِيدُ عَنِ المَشْهُورِ المَنْصُوصِ مِنْ قَوْله وتتعلق بالمغمور مِنْهُ، الملتبس الَّذِي يتَحَمَّل المعَانِي.
Wakīʿ, al-Aʿmash and Sufyān on the Kursī Report
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
587 — My father narrated to me: Wakīʿ narrated to us the hadith of Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, from ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “When the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sits upon the Kursī…” A man, whom my father named, shuddered in Wakīʿ's presence; Wakīʿ became angry and said: “We found al-Aʿmash and Sufyān narrating these hadiths, not rejecting them.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/302 no. 587
Source, chain and authenticity
State it exactly that way.
Did al-Shāfiʿī Declare a Disbeliever Whoever Says Allah Sits on the Throne? Wakīʿ, Kitāb al-Sunnah and al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in al-Sunnah:
587. My father narrated to me: Wakīʿ narrated to us the ḥadīth of Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, from ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: 'When the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sits upon the Kursī…' A man, whom my father named, shuddered in Wakīʿ's presence; Wakīʿ became angry and said: We met al-Aʿmash and Sufyān narrating these ḥadīths without denying them.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah 1/302 no. 587. Also al-Dārimī, Naqḍ (ed. al-Shawāmī) p. 11 (18091/10)
Source, chain and authenticity
The matn of ʿUmar's report is abbreviated here ('bi-ḥadīth'); its full text and the grading of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah's report (weakness of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah and the mawqūf/marfūʿ question) belong in the julūs chapter.
The quotation the opponent cites is from al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn's al-Taʿlīqah 2/1031. It is not given there as al-Shāfiʿī's words with a chain. The author names one category as 'what al-Shāfiʿī stated explicitly' (those who deny Allah's knowledge of things before they exist), then adds 'and likewise' other categories, among them 'whoever believes Allah is sitting (jālis) upon the Throne'. On the most natural reading that clause is al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn's own extension. In any case a fifth-century Shāfiʿī jurist's taʿlīqah is not a transmission from al-Shāfiʿī.
The chain ʿAbd Allāh ← Aḥmad ← Wakīʿ is sound, and Wakīʿ's statement about al-Aʿmash and Sufyān is his own testimony. What it establishes is precise: Wakīʿ rebuked someone who shuddered at a report mentioning the Lord's sitting on the Kursī, and said the earlier imams narrated such reports without denying them. It does not establish the authenticity of ʿUmar's report itself . Keep the two claims apart: 'Wakīʿ did not deny such reports' (established) and 'the report of the sitting is authentic' (a separate question).
Al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn al-Marwarrūdhī (D.
Al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn al-Marwarrūdhī (d. 462) said in al-Taʿlīqah:
اختلف أهل القبلة إلا ما نص عليه الشافعي ﵀، وهم الذين ينفون علم الله تعالى بالمعدومات ويقولون: لم يعلم الله الأشياء حتى كانت، وهذا خلاف قوله تعالى (ولو ردوا لعادوا لما نهوا عنه)، فيكفر بهذه المخالفة، وكذا من قال بخلق القرآن، أو لم يؤمن بالقدر أو اعتقد ان الله تعالى جالس على العرش، فإنه يحكم بكفره، ولا تصح الصلاة خلف هؤلاء.
As for the people of differing schools and those who dissent in the fundamentals (uṣūl), it is to be examined: if we declare him a disbeliever for his belief, prayer behind him is not valid; and the position of most jurists is that he is not declared a disbeliever. [None of] the people of the qiblah [are declared disbelievers] except what al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, stated explicitly: they are those who deny Allah's knowledge of non-existent things and say 'Allah did not know things until they existed', which contradicts His word 'And if they were returned, they would return to what they were forbidden' [al-Anʿām 28]; such a one is declared a disbeliever for this contradiction. And likewise whoever says the Qurʾān is created, or does not believe in the decree, or believes that Allah, the Exalted, is sitting (jālis) upon the Throne: he is judged a disbeliever, and prayer behind these is not valid.
al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn al-Marwarrūdhī (d. 462), al-Taʿlīqah 2/1031
Source, chain and authenticity
What is attributed to al-Shāfiʿī's explicit text (naṣṣ) is the denial of Allah's foreknowledge. The following categories are introduced by 'wa-kadhā' ('and likewise'), and the sitting clause is among them. Nothing in the passage gives a chain to al-Shāfiʿī. The opponent's English presents the whole as 'Ash-Shāfiʿī said: Whoever believes that Allah sits upon the Throne has committed kufr', which the text does not say.
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فأما أهل المذاهب المختلفة والمخالفون في الأصول ينظر فيه إن كنا نكفره باعتقاده لا تصح الصلاة خلفه، ومذهب أكثر الفقهاء ألا يكفر.
اختلف أهل القبلة إلا ما نص عليه الشافعي ﵀، وهم الذين ينفون علم الله تعالى بالمعدومات ويقولون: لم يعلم الله الأشياء حتى كانت، وهذا خلاف قوله تعالى (ولو ردوا لعادوا لما نهوا عنه)، فيكفر بهذه المخالفة، وكذا من قال بخلق القرآن، أو لم يؤمن بالقدر أو اعتقد ان الله تعالى جالس على العرش، فإنه يحكم بكفره، ولا تصح الصلاة خلف هؤلاء.
قال: وكان القفال: ﵀ يرى الصلاة خلف كل واحد المعتزلة والروافض للقبلة.
وكل من لا يكفر من أهل القبلة، والمظهر للبدع تقبل شهادته، وتكره الصلاة خلفه.
ومن سب النبي ﷺ يكفر بذلك لقوله ﷺ، من سب نبيا فد كفر، ومن سب صحابيا فقد فسق.
فأما من سب الشيخين، أو الحسينين ففيه وجهان:
أحدهما: يكفر، لأن الأمة اجتمعت على إمامتهم.
والثاني: يفسق لأجل الخبر، ولا يكفر.
Present the full page and the structure of the sentence. Note also that 'jālis' here is the jurist's wording for a belief he condemns. Grade those chains too, since several are weak.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said in al-Sunnah:
[Chapter:] What was asked about what has been narrated concerning the Kursī and the sitting of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, upon it. 584. I saw my father, may Allah have mercy on him, authenticate these ḥadīths, the ḥadīths of the vision [of Allah], and adopt them; and he compiled them in a book and narrated them to us.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah 1/300 no. 584
Source, chain and authenticity
The report itself says 'these ḥadīths, the ḥadīths of the ruʾyah (seeing Allah)'. It sits under a chapter heading on the Kursī and julūs, but the text specifies the vision ḥadīths.
This translation correctly says Aḥmad authenticated 'the ḥadīths of the Vision'. In a post about sitting, though, the report shows only that the chapter heading groups vision and Kursī reports together; it does not show that Aḥmad authenticated the sitting reports.
Al-Ṭabarī on Pleasure and Anger as Attributes of Action
Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Al-Ṭabarī said in Jāmiʿ al-Bayān:
We have mentioned that the meaning of repentance from the servant to his Lord is his turning back to obedience to Him and his return to what pleases Him, by abandoning the things that displease Him on which he had persisted, which his Lord disliked. Likewise, Allah's turning to His servant in repentance is that He grants him that, and turns, for his sake, from His anger against him to pleasure with him, and from punishment to pardon and overlooking.
al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān 1/587
Source, chain and authenticity
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القولُ في تأويلِ قولِه جلَّ وعزَّ: ﴿فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ﴾.
وقولُه: ﴿فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ﴾. يعنى على آدمَ، والهاءُ التى في ﴿عَلَيْهِ﴾ عائدةٌ على آدمَ. وقولُه: ﴿فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ﴾. يعْنى: رزَقه التوبةَ مِن خطيئتِه. والتوبةُ معناها الإنابةُ إلى اللهِ جلَّ ثناؤُه، والأَوْبةُ إلى طاعتِه مما يَكْرَهُ مِن معصيتِه.
القولُ في تأويلِ قولِه جلَّ ثناؤُه: ﴿إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (٣٧)﴾.
وتأويلُ قولِه: ﴿إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾. أن اللهَ جل ثناؤُه هو التوابُ على مَن تاب إليه مِن عبادِه المُذْنبِين مِن ذنوبِه، التاركُ مُجازاتَه بإنابتِه إلى طاعتِه بعدَ معصيتِه بما سلَف مِن ذنبِه. وقد ذكَرْنا أن معنى التوبةِ مِن العبدِ إلى ربِّه إنابتُه إلى طاعتهِ، وأوْبتُه إلى ما يُرْضِيه، بتركِه ما يَسْخَطُه مِن الأمورِ التى كان عليها مُقيمًا مما يَكْرَهُه ربُّه. فكذلك توبةُ اللهِ على عبدِه، هو أن يَرْزُقَه ذلك، ويؤوبَ له (¬١) مِن غضبِه عليه إلى الرضا عنه، ومِن العقوبةِ إلى العفوِ والصَّفْحِ عنه.
وأما قولُه: ﴿الرَّحِيمُ﴾ فإنه يعنى أنه المُتَفَضِّلُ عليه مع التوبةِ بالرحمةِ، ورحمتُه إياه إقالتُه (¬٢) عثرتَه وصَفْحُه عن عقوبةِ جُرْمِه.
Ibn Fūrak, Mujarrad Maqālāt al-Ashʿarī
Ibn Fūrak said in Mujarrad Maqālāt al-Ashʿarī:
…and his disbelief and sins proceed from the eternal displeasure against him. It is not permissible to say, in the literal sense, 'I caused Him to be displeased', 'I caused Him to be angry' or 'I caused Him to be pleased', because it is impossible that change should reach Him from another or that change be possible for Him in any respect. And His word 'So when they angered Us' [al-Zukhruf 55] admits of interpretation as meaning…
Ibn Fūrak, Mujarrad Maqālāt al-Ashʿarī
Source, chain and authenticity
Since Ibn Fūrak's book is not available, the same doctrine is documented from al-Bāqillānī's al-Tamhīd ('His anger and pleasure are His will to reward the one He is pleased with and to punish the one He is angry with, nothing else') and al-Rāzī ('Allah's anger is the will to take vengeance'). See OP17.
The Ashʿarī position is now sourced from their own texts (OP17): al-Bāqillānī reduces anger and pleasure to the eternal will to reward and punish ('nothing else'), and al-Rāzī defines anger as 'the will to take vengeance'. Love should be sourced separately before it is stated.
The clearest contrast in the sources is al-Ṭabarī's 'He turns from His anger against him to pleasure with him' against Ibn Fūrak's 'it is not permissible to say literally: I caused Him to be angry or pleased, because change is impossible for Him' . Further evidence for the Atharī reading: the ḥadīth of intercession, 'My Lord has become angry today with an anger such as He has never been angry with before, nor will be after' (al-Bukhārī 3340, 4712; Muslim 194). It speaks of anger occurring on a particular day. Locate and archive it.
Sources
- Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
- Abū ʿAwānah, Mustakhraj
- An answer of the imams of the Najdī daʿwah preserved in al-Durar al-Saniyyah, Kitāb al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt
- Ibn Fūrak, Mujarrad Maqālāt al-Ashʿarī
- Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd (ed. al-Faqīhī)
- al-Bayhaqī, al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt
- al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
- al-Dāraquṭnī, al-Ṣifāt (ed. al-Faqīhī)
- al-Dārimī, Naqḍ (ed. al-Shawāmī)
- al-Qāḍī Ḥusayn al-Marwarrūdhī (d.
- al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak
- al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
- al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān (ed. al-Turkī)
- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
- ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād