Part One
The creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah in summary
First Issue: The Meaning of the Creed of the Salaf
The creed of the Salaf is what the Companions, the Followers and the imams of guidance after them believed about Allah, His names and attributes, His decree, the Last Day, faith and the Companions. Its source is the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, and its method is to take the texts as they came, to understand them in the Arabic in which they were revealed, and to affirm what Allah affirmed for Himself without likening and without asking how.
Imām Aḥmad became the imam of Ahl al-Sunnah because he held to this creed in the trial over the createdness of the Qurʾān, when the caliphs, the judges and the scholars of the court stood against him. He was beaten and imprisoned and did not say what they wanted. After him the people of the Sunnah measured men by him: whoever loved Aḥmad was known as a man of the Sunnah.
Second Issue: The Continuity of the Creed
The creed of the Ḥanbalī imams did not change between the generations. Al-Khallāl gathered the answers of Aḥmad; Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ājurrī, Ibn Mandah and al-Lālakāʾī wrote their books of the Sunnah on the same foundations; and after them Ibn Qudāmah, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim wrote with the same words. The chapters of Part three set their texts side by side, so that the reader sees that the later imams only repeated what the earlier ones said.
Al-Ṭabarī, who was not a Ḥanbalī in fiqh, wrote in Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah the same creed: the Qurʾān is the uncreated speech of Allah, the believers will see their Lord, and the attributes are affirmed as they came. The creed of the Salaf was one creed, whatever the school of fiqh of the one who held it.
Part Two
The claims of the opponents and their refutation
“The Ḥanbalīs were mufawwiḍah”
The claim
Imām Aḥmad and the early Ḥanbalīs consigned the meanings of the attributes to Allah and did not affirm any meaning for them.
The response
Aḥmad said that Allah laughs, and that we do not know how. He said that Allah is upon the Throne, and that His knowledge is in every place. He wrote al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah to refute those who said Allah is in every place, and he argued in it from the meanings of the verses: from the Highness, from the Speech to Mūsā, and from the Arabic of the Qurʾān. Someone who consigns the meanings does not argue from them.
When Aḥmad said “without how and without meaning”, he was answering the Jahmiyyah, who gave the attributes meanings of their own invention, such as power for the Hand and the command for the Descent. He denied the meaning that they claimed, not the meaning that the Arabic gives. His students understood him this way, and they wrote their books of the Sunnah affirming the meanings, which they would not have done had their imam forbidden it.
“Aḥmad's creed was later corrupted by the anthropomorphists”
The claim
The affirmations attributed to Aḥmad were added by later Ḥanbalīs who inclined to likening.
The response
The texts of Aḥmad are transmitted by his sons ʿAbd Allāh and Ṣāliḥ, by Ḥanbal, by al-Marrūdhī, by Abū Dāwūd and by many others, with chains of narration that the people of ḥadīth know. They are not the late writings of men who came centuries after him. Part three gives them with their sources, and the reader can see that the same words come through different students in different cities.
The accusation of likening is the accusation that the Jahmiyyah made against every one who affirmed the attributes. Aḥmad himself was called a likener by them. Whoever repeats it today has taken his understanding of Aḥmad from Aḥmad's enemies.
Part Three
The reports in full, with their sources
The Creed of Imām Aḥmad in His Own Words: Seventeen Texts
Al-Radd
Al-Radd said in p.:
And if you want to know that the Jahmī lies about Allah when he claims that Allah is in every place, and is not in one place to the exclusion of another, then say: Was not Allah [existent] when there was nothing?
al-Radd, p. 155; =
Source, chain and authenticity
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وإذا أردت أن تعلم أن الجهمي كاذب على الله حين زعم أن الله في كل مكان، ولا يكون في مكان دون مكان، فقل: أليس الله كان ولا شيء؟
فيقول: نعم.
فقل له: حين خلق الشيء خلقه في نفسه أو خارجًا من نفسه؟ فإنه يصير إلى ثلاثة أقوال، لابد له من واحد منها.
إن زعم أن الله خلق الخلق في نفسه كفر، حين زعم أن الجن والإنس والشياطين في نفسه٢.
Aḥmad, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, Ed. Ṣabrī Shāhīn
Aḥmad said in al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī Shāhīn:
We said: Why have you denied that Allah is upon the Throne, when He, the Exalted, has said: 'The Most Merciful rose over the Throne' [Ṭāhā 5], and said: 'He created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne' [al-Ḥadīd 4]?
Aḥmad, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī Shāhīn, p. 142. Quoted with al-Khallāl's attribution in Bayān Talbīs 1/36 and al-ʿArsh 2/321
Source, chain and authenticity
Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, Ed. ʿAṭāʾāt
Ibn al-Qayyim reported in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt:
Al-Khallāl said: And ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Maymūnī informed me, saying: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad about one who says: Allah, the Exalted, is not upon the Throne. He said: Their speech all revolves around disbelief.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt, p. 303, from al-Khallāl's al-Sunnah; ed. al-Muʿtiq 2/200
Source, chain and authenticity
The surviving al-Sunnah of al-Khallāl does not contain it in the Shamela-accessible witnesses.
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قال الخلال: وأخبرني عبد الملك بن عبد الحميد الميموني قال: سألت أبا عبد الله أحمد عمَّن يقول (¬٢): إن الله تعالى ليس على العرش؟ فقال: كلامهم كله يدور على الكفر (¬٣).
وروى أبو القاسم الطبري (¬٤) الشافعي في كتاب «السنة» له بإسناده: عن حنبل قال: قيل لأبي عبد الله: ما معنى قوله تعالى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة/٧] وقوله تعالى: ﴿وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ﴾ [الحديد/٤]؟ قال: علمه محيط بالكل، وربنا على العرش بلا حدٍّ ولا صفةٍ (¬٥)، وسع كرسيه السماوات والأرض (¬٦).
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.
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.
Aḥmad's words here quote and reject the Jahmī phrase 'lā yakūnu fī makān dūnah makān'. That establishes that Aḥmad denies Allah is in every place, and holds that He is distinct from creation. Whether this amounts to affirming the word 'makān' is an inference. The direct textual support for the word is elsewhere . State the inference as an inference.
The classical Ashʿarīs (al-Ashʿarī himself in al-Ibānah, al-Bāqillānī) affirmed that Allah is 'upon the Throne'. Ibn Taymiyyah documents this, and it is part of the argument the series makes elsewhere. The flat denial 'He is not upon the Throne' was the position of the Jahmiyyah and later of those who interpreted istiwāʾ as istīlāʾ. Then document, separately and with sources, which later groups held that denial.
It says Aḥmad authenticated the ḥadīths of the vision. Keep the label verbatim and record the correction. For Aḥmad's stance on the julūs reports, use what is actually stated: no. 587 on Wakīʿ, and the reports in al-Khallāl on the maqām maḥmūd . Then present the scholarly discussion of their chains.
What the report proves is narrower than the label: Aḥmad transmitted Wakīʿ's defence of narrating these reports without denial. To present the ʿUmar report itself as evidence, its chain must be assessed. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah is discussed by the critics, and several Atharī ḥadīth scholars weakened this report.
Al-Radd
Al-Radd said in p.:
We said: You have committed a great slander against Allah when you claimed that He does not speak, for you have likened Him to the idols that are worshipped besides Allah, because the idols do not speak, nor move, nor pass from place to place.
al-Radd, p. 138; =
Source, chain and authenticity
The red box marks 'wa-lā tazūlu min makān ilā makān'.
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أليس الله هو القائل؟
قالوا: فَيُكوِّن الله شيئًا فيُعَبِّر عن الله، كما كَوَّن شيئًا فعَبَّر لموسى.
قلنا: فمن القائل: ﴿فَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الْمُرْسَلِينَ، فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ بِعِلْمٍ﴾ [الأعراف: ٦، ٧] .
أليس الله هو الذي يسأل؟
قالوا: هذا كله إنما يكون شيئًا، فيعبر عن الله.
قلنا: قد أعظمتم على الله الفرية، حين زعمتم أنه لا يتكلم فشبهتموه بالأصنام التي تعبد من دون الله؛ لأن الأصنام لا تتكلم، ولا تتحرك ولا تزول من مكان إلى مكان.
فلما ظهرت عليه الحجة قال: إن الله قد يتكلم، ولكن كلامه مخلوق,
Precision: Aḥmad's argument is that denying speech assimilates Allah to idols, which have none of these attributes of the living. The idols' not moving or passing from place to place is listed among their deficiencies. That implies Aḥmad does not count those as deficiencies to be negated of Allah, but he does not here assert 'Allah moves from place to place' in those words. Present it as: Aḥmad lists 'not moving, not passing from place to place' among the defects of idols, and the Ḥanbalīs differed over affirming ḥarakah .
Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, Ed. ʿAṭāʾāt
Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh reported in ed. ʿAṭāʾāt:
يخلو شيء من علمه
Al-Khallāl said in Kitāb al-Sunnah: Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad informed us, saying: It was said to my father: Our Lord, blessed and exalted, is above the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, separate from His creation, and His power and knowledge are in every place? He said: Yes; nothing is devoid of His knowledge.
Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt, pp. 302–303. Parallels without ʿAbd Allāh in the chain: al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww p. 176 no. 474 ('Yūsuf ibn Mūsā al-Qaṭṭān, shaykh of Abū Bakr al-Khallāl: it was said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh…', 6463/163); Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah 7/158; Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah 1/421; Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww p. 167
Source, chain and authenticity
CHAIN VARIANT (T12): Ijtimāʿ inserts 'akhbaranā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad' between Yūsuf ibn Mūsā and Aḥmad; al-ʿUluww, Ibn Baṭṭah and the Ṭabaqāt make Yūsuf ibn Mūsā (al-Qaṭṭān, d. 253, ṣadūq per Ibn Maʿīn, Ṭabaqāt 1/421) the direct questioner. Yūsuf was older than ʿAbd Allāh and one of Aḥmad's companions; the shorter chain is the one most witnesses give.
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ومراد السلف بقولهم: بلا كيف، هو نفي التأويل (¬٣)، فإنه التكييف الذي يزعمه أهل التأويل، فإنهم هم الذين يثبتون كيفية تخالف الحقيقة فيقعون (¬٤) في ثلاثة محاذير: نفي الحقيقة، وإثبات التكييف بالتأويل، وتعطيل الرب تعالى عن صفته التي أثبتها لنفسه. وأما أهل الإثبات فليس أحد منهم يُكيِّف ما أثبته الله تعالى لنفسه، ويقول: كيفيته كذا وكذا حتى يكون قول السلف بلا كيف ردًّا عليه وإنما ردوا على أهل التأويل الذي يتضمن التحريف والتعطيل: تحريف اللفظ، وتعطيل معناه.
فصل
في ذكر [ظ/ق ٤٨ أ] قول الإمام أحمد وأصحابه رحمه الله تعالى:
قال الخلال في كتاب «السنة»: حدثنا يوسف بن موسى قال: أخبرنا عبد الله بن أحمد قال: قيل لأبي: ربنا ﵎ فوق السماء السابعة على عرشه بائن من خلقه، وقدرته وعلمه بكل مكان؟ قال: نعم، لا
يخلو شيء من علمه (¬١).
قال الخلال: وأخبرني عبد الملك بن عبد الحميد الميموني قال: سألت أبا عبد الله أحمد عمَّن يقول (¬٢): إن الله تعالى ليس على العرش؟ فقال: كلامهم كله يدور على الكفر (¬٣).
وروى أبو القاسم الطبري (¬٤) الشافعي في كتاب «السنة» له بإسناده: عن حنبل قال: قيل لأبي عبد الله: ما معنى قوله تعالى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة/٧] وقوله تعالى: ﴿وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ﴾ [الحديد/٤]؟ قال: علمه محيط بالكل، وربنا على العرش بلا حدٍّ ولا صفةٍ (¬٥)، وسع كرسيه السماوات والأرض (¬٦).
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in al-Sunnah:
489. I heard my father, may Allah have mercy on him, [say]: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated to us the ḥadīth of Sufyān, from al-Aʿmash, from Manṣūr, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbīdah, from ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Masʿūd], from the Prophet ﷺ: 'Allah holds the heavens on a finger.' My father said: Yaḥyā began pointing with his fingers. And my father showed me how [Yaḥyā] pointed with his finger, putting down finger by finger until he came to the last of them.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah 1/264 no. 489. The ḥadīth of the rabbi: al-Bukhārī 4811, 7414; Muslim 2786
Source, chain and authenticity
The editor's footnote reproduces Ibn Ḥajar said in Fatḥ al-Bārī:
[Editor's footnote, not ʿAbd Allāh's words] Ibn Khuzaymah added, from Muḥammad ibn Khallād, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, from al-Aʿmash, and he mentioned the ḥadīth: Muḥammad said: Yaḥyā counted them for us on his fingers. Likewise Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal transmitted it in Kitāb al-Sunnah from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and said: Yaḥyā began pointing with his finger, putting a finger upon a finger until he came to the last of them. And Abū Bakr al-Khallāl narrated it in Kitāb al-Sunnah from Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī from Aḥmad, and said: I saw Abū ʿAbd Allāh pointing finger by finger. And in the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās in al-Tirmidhī: 'A Jew passed by the Prophet ﷺ…'
The editor's footnote reproduces Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-Bārī 13/397, on al-Bukhārī 7414
Source, chain and authenticity
No. 489 itself reports Yaḥyā gesturing and Aḥmad showing his son how Yaḥyā did it.
The meaning, which the label states correctly in brackets: the gesture affirms the reality of the attribute and is not a likening of His fingers to ours.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ:
…[this] contradicts what Aḥmad and other imams stated explicitly, as al-Khallāl also mentioned. He said: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh, when it was said to him: 'ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him: How do we know Allah, Mighty and Majestic? He said: Upon the Throne, with a ḥadd.' He said: That has reached me from him. And it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: 'Are they waiting for anything but that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds' [al-Baqarah 210], then he recited: 'And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank' [al-Fajr 22].
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ 2/34, from al-Khallāl's al-Sunnah. Same report: al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm Aḥmad 3/310 (20879/307); Bayān 2/615
Source, chain and authenticity
Aḥmad's approval is 'wa-aʿjabahu' ('and it pleased him'), the narrator's description, followed by Aḥmad reciting two verses on Allah's coming. The same page continues with al-Athram's report ('Aḥmad said: hākadhā huwa ʿindanā') and the Ḥarb–Isḥāq report.
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وما في الكلام من نفي تحديد الخلق وتقديرهم لربهم وبلوغهم صفته لا ينافي ما نص عليه أحمد وغيره من الأئمة، كما ذكره الخلال أيضاً، قال: (حدثنا أبو بكر المروزي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله - لما قيل له: روى علي بن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك، أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف الله ﷿؟ قال: على العرش بحد - قال: قد بلغني ذلك عنه، وأعجبه، ثم قال أبو عبد الله: ﴿هل ينظرون إلا أن يأتيهم الله في ظلل من الغمام﴾ (البقرة: ٢١٠) ثم قال: ﴿وجاء ربك والملك صفا صفا﴾ (الفجر: ٢٢) .
قال الخلال: وأنبأنا محمد بن علي الوراق، حدثنا أبو بكر الأثرم، حدثني محمد بن إبراهيم القيسي، قال: قلت لأحمد بن حنبل: يحكى عن ابن المبارك - وقيل له: كيف تعرف ربنا؟ - قال: في السماء السابعة على عرشه بحد، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا.
وأخبرني حرب بن إسماعيل قال: قلت لإسحاق - يعني ابن راهويه -: هو على العرش بحد؟ قال: نعم بحد.
وذكر عن ابن المبارك قال: هو على عرشه بائن من خلقه بحد.
قال: وأخبرنا المروزي قال: قال إسحاق بن إبراهيم بن راهويه: قال الله ﵎: ﴿الرحمن على العرش استوى﴾ (طه: ٥)
Abū Dāwūd's report 'li-llāh ḥadd? Naʿam, lā yaʿlamuhu illā huwa', Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt no. 551); (b) negation, 'bi-lā ḥadd wa-lā ṣifah yablughuhā wāṣif' . The Ḥanbalī Abū Yaʿlā reconciles them explicitly: Aḥmad affirmed a ḥadd known only to Allah, meaning He is distinct and separate from creation, and denied 'the ḥadd that His creation knows' (Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt pp. 597–598, nos. 551–552). Ibn Taymiyyah says the same in Darʾ 2/33–34 . Presenting both and the reconciliation, from a Ḥanbalī authority, is much stronger than 'Aḥmad affirms a ḥadd' alone, and it pre-empts the counter-citation of 'bi-lā ḥadd'.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, Ed. ʿAṭāʾāt
Ibn al-Qayyim said in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt:
نؤمن بالقرآن كله، محكمه ومتشابهه، ولا نزيل عنه صفة من صفاته لشناعة شنعت، وما وصف به نفسه من كلامٍ ونزولٍ وخلوةٍ بعبده يوم القيامة ووضعه كنفه عليه؛ فهذا كله يدل على أن الله ﷾ يُرى في الآخرة، والتحديد في هذا كله بدعة، والتسليم فيه بغير صفة ولا حدٍّ إلا ما وصف به نفسه.
And Ḥanbal said in another place, from Aḥmad: 'There is nothing like Him' in His essence, as He described Himself. Allah, blessed and exalted, has stated the attribute for Himself in general terms, and He defined (ḥaddah) for Himself an attribute that nothing resembles; and His attributes are not delimited nor known except by what He described Himself with. He said: So He is Hearing, Seeing, without a ḥadd and without a measure (taqdīr), and the describers do not reach His attribute. We do not go beyond the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth: we say as He said, and describe Him with what He described Himself with, and we do not go beyond that; the describers do not reach His attribute. We believe in the whole Qurʾān, its clear and its ambiguous [verses], and we do not remove from Him any attribute of His attributes because of an outcry that is raised [against it]. And what He described Himself with, of speech, descent, being alone with His servant on the Day of Resurrection and placing His covering (kanaf) over him: all of this indicates that Allah, glorified and exalted, will be seen in the Hereafter. Delimiting (taḥdīd) in all of this is an innovation; and submission in it is without a description or a ḥadd except what He described Himself with.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt, p. 322; ed. al-Muʿtiq 2/212. Short form: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 49 no. 6 (730/44); Ibn Qudāmah, Dhamm al-Taʾwīl p. 22, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād p. 7; al-Dhahabī, al-ʿArsh 1/259
Source, chain and authenticity
Variant: Ibṭāl no. 6 reads 'li-shanāʿāt shunniʿat' (plural). In Ibṭāl, the report immediately before it (no. 5: Aḥmad's creed sent to ʿAbdūs ibn Mālik al-ʿAṭṭār, i.e. That, not shanāʿah, is the textual basis for the label's 'even if … it sounds ugly to us'. Note also that 'ḥaddah li-nafsihi ṣifah' (He defined for Himself an attribute) and 'al-taḥdīd … bidʿah' (delimiting is an innovation) occur in the same passage: further evidence for the two senses of ḥadd .
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نؤمن بالقرآن كله، محكمه ومتشابهه، ولا نزيل عنه صفة من صفاته لشناعة شنعت، وما وصف به نفسه من كلامٍ ونزولٍ وخلوةٍ بعبده يوم القيامة ووضعه كنفه عليه؛ فهذا كله يدل على أن الله ﷾ يُرى في الآخرة، والتحديد في هذا كله بدعة، والتسليم فيه بغير صفة ولا حدٍّ إلا ما وصف به نفسه. سميع بصير، لم يزل متكلمًا عالمًا غفورًا عالم الغيب والشهادة علّام الغيوب، فهذه صفات وصف بها نفسه لا تُدفع ولا تُردُّ، وهو على العرش بلا حدٍّ، كما قال تعالى: ﴿ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ﴾ [الفرقان/٥٩]، كيف شاء، المشيئة إليه والاستطاعة إليه (¬٢)، ليس كمثله شيء، وهو خالق كل شيء، وهو [كما وصف نفسه] (¬٣)، سميع بصير بلا حدٍّ ولا تقدير، لا نتعدى القرآن والحديث ـ تعالى عما تقول الجهمية، والمشبهة.
Correct the gloss: 'li-shanāʿah shunniʿat' = 'because of an outcry that has been raised'. It refers to opponents' denunciations, not to the believer's own discomfort. For the label's sense, cite Aḥmad's 'wa-in nabat ʿan al-asmāʿ wa-stawḥashah minhā al-mustamiʿ' (Ibṭāl no. 5). The full passage also shows Aḥmad using ḥadd in both directions within a few lines: 'He defined for Himself an attribute', 'without a ḥadd', 'delimiting is an innovation'.
Al-Radd
Al-Radd said in p.:
…the Jahmiyyah. When people ask them about Allah's word 'There is nothing like Him', they say: There is nothing like Him among things; He is beneath the seven earths just as He is upon the Throne; no place is devoid of Him; He is not in one place to the exclusion of another; He did not speak and does not speak; no one looks at Him in this world or the next; He is not described and not known by any attribute; He does not act; He has no extremity (ghāyah) and no end-point (muntahā)…
al-Radd, p. 98. Also Bayān Talbīs 3/455–456
Source, chain and authenticity
Strong text for T03: in Aḥmad's description of Jahmī doctrine, 'He has no ghāyah and no muntahā' stands beside 'no place is devoid of Him' and 'He does not speak'. Those are the denials Aḥmad is attributing to them. Pair it with the lexical sense of ḥadd = muntahā .
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad 3/395 reported in from al-Khallāl's al-Sunnah. Also: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
Al-Khallāl said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal informed me: my father, Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq, narrated to me, saying: My uncle [Aḥmad] said: We believe that Allah, the Exalted, is upon the Throne however He wills and as He wills, without a ḥadd and without a description that any describer could reach or by which anyone could delimit Him. Allah's attributes are His and from Him, and He is as He described Himself. Sight does not grasp Him with a ḥadd or a ghāyah, and He grasps all sight; He is Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, Knower of hidden things. No describer's description reaches Him, and He is as He described Himself. Nothing of Allah, the Exalted, is delimited (maḥdūd), and no one attains knowledge of His power. He has overcome all things by His knowledge, power and authority. 'There is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing' [al-Shūrā 11]. And Allah was before anything existed; Allah is the First and He is the Last; no one reaches the limit (ḥadd) of His attributes. [And upon us is] submission to Allah's command and contentment with His decree. We ask Allah for success and right guidance; He is capable of all things.
al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad 3/395, from al-Khallāl's al-Sunnah. Also: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 598 no. 552 (730/583); Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ 2/30–33 and Bayān 2/621, 6/510–511 (with the addition 'wa-lā yuraddu ʿalā Allāh qawluh, wa-lā yūṣafu bi-akthar mimmā waṣafah bihi nafsah bi-lā ḥadd wa-lā ghāyah', via ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā from Ḥanbal, per the Jāmiʿ editors' footnote); al-Dhahabī, al-ʿArsh 1/257; Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtimāʿ p. 321
Source, chain and authenticity
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"إبطال التأويلات" ١/ ٤٥
قال المروذي: ذكرت لأبي عبد اللَّه حديث محمد بن سلمة الجراني، عن عبد الرحمن قال: حدثني زيد بن أبي أنيسة، عن المنهال، عن أبي عبيدة، عن مسروق قال: حدثنا عبد اللَّه بن مسعود، عن النبي ﷺ (٢). .، قال أبو عبد اللَّه: هذا حديث غريب لم يقع إلينا عن محمد بن سلمة. واستحسنه.
"إبطال التأويلات" ١/ ١٥٧
قال الخلال: أخبرني عبيد اللَّه بن حنبل، حدثني أبي -حنبل بن إسحاق- قال: قال عمي: نحن نؤمن بأنه تعالى على العرش كيف شاء، وكما شاء، بلا حد، ولا صفة يبلغها واصف، ويحده أحد، فصفات اللَّه له ومنه، وهو كما وصف نفسه؛ لا تدركه الأبصار بحد ولا غاية، وهو يدرك الأبصار، وهو عالم الغيب والشهادة، علام الغيوب، ولا يدركه وصف واصف، وهو كما وصف نفسه، ليس من اللَّه تعالى شيء محدود، ولا يبلغ علم قدرته أحد، غلب الأشياء كلها بعلمه وقدرته وسلطانه ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١] وكان اللَّه
Its own wording limits the negation: the ḥadd negated is 'a ḥadd or ṣifah that a describer reaches, or by which anyone delimits Him', 'sight does not grasp Him with a ḥadd', and 'no one reaches the ḥadd of His attributes'. That is a ḥadd known and encompassed by creation. Abū Yaʿlā (Ibṭāl no. 552) draws exactly this conclusion: 'he negated the ḥadd of the description mentioned, which is the ḥadd His creation knows'. Ibn Taymiyyah does the same (Darʾ 2/33). Label it accordingly: 'Imam Aḥmad negates a ḥadd that creation can know or describe'.
The Chain 'ʿAbd Allāh ← Ḥanbal' Suggests a Work Transmitting via ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal, Cf.). Parallel Witho
The chain 'ʿAbd Allāh ← Ḥanbal' suggests a work transmitting via ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal reported in cf.). Parallel without chain: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
48. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Ḥanbal narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: Allah, Majestic is His praise, laughs, and we do not know how that is, except by affirming the truth of the Messenger and establishing the Qurʾān.
the chain 'ʿAbd Allāh ← Ḥanbal' suggests a work transmitting via ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal, cf.). Parallel without chain: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 50 no. 10: 'wa-qālah fī riwāyat Ḥanbal: yaḍḥaku Allāh wa-lā naʿlamu kayfa dhālikah illā bi-taṣdīq al-Rasūl'; also al-Dhahabī, al-ʿArsh 1/259; al-Aṣbahānī, al-Ḥujjah 1/473
Source, chain and authenticity
Ibṭāl adds Aḥmad's next sentence: 'al-mushabbihah taqūl: baṣar ka-baṣarī, wa-yad ka-yadī, wa-qadam ka-qadamī; wa-man qālah dhālikah fa-qad shabbaha Allāh bi-khalqih'. Abū Yaʿlā comments: 'Aḥmad stated explicitly the position of [taking] the apparent meaning of the reports without tashbīh or taʾwīl'.
Add Aḥmad's definition of the mushabbihah from the same report (Ibṭāl no. 10). It states the boundary the whole series argues for: affirmation without likening ('a hand like my hand' is tashbīh, 'a hand' is not).
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ:
Al-Khallāl said: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī informed us: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh, when it was said to him that ʿAbd al-Wahhāb [al-Warrāq] had spoken and said: 'Whoever claims that Allah spoke to Mūsā without a voice is a Jahmī, an enemy of Allah and an enemy of Islam'. Abū ʿAbd Allāh smiled and said: How excellent is what he said! May Allah keep him well!
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ 2/39; Sharḥ al-ʿAqīdah al-Aṣfahāniyyah p. 68 (11248/64); al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā 6/485; al-Tisʿīniyyah 2/590
Source, chain and authenticity
This is a slip in the label. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb is ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam al-Warrāq, a companion of Aḥmad.
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وقال عبد الله بن أحمد: سألت أبي عن قوم يقولون: لما كلم موسى لم يتكلم بصوت، فقال أبي: بلى، تكلم ﵎ بصوت، وهذه الأحاديث نرويها كما جاءت، وحديث ابن مسعود: (إذا تكلم الله بالوحي سمع له صوت كجر السلسلة على الصفوان) قال أبي: والجهمية تنكره، قال أبي: وهؤلاء كفار يريدون أن يموهوا على الناس، من زعم أن الله لم يتكلم فهو كافر، إنما نروي هذه الأحاديث كما جاءت) .
Fix the label: 'those who claim Allah spoke to Mūsā without a voice'. The '(ash'ari belief)' gloss is fair as far as it goes: the Ashʿarīs hold that Allah's speech is a single eternal meaning without sound. But the text names the Jahmiyyah, so present the Ashʿarī position separately, from their own books, and say that it shares this denial.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said in al-Sunnah:
533. I asked my father, may Allah have mercy on him, about people who say: When Allah, Mighty and Majestic, spoke to Mūsā, He did not speak with a voice. My father said: Rather, your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, spoke with a voice; these ḥadīths we narrate as they have come.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah 1/280 no. 533; also Darʾ 2/39
Source, chain and authenticity
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٥٣٣ - سَأَلْتُ أَبِي ﵀ عَنْ قَوْمٍ، يَقُولُونَ: لَمَّا كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ ﷿ مُوسَى لَمْ يَتَكَلَّمْ بِصَوْتٍ فَقَالَ أَبِي: «بَلَى إِنَّ رَبَّكَ ﷿ تَكَلَّمَ بِصَوْتٍ هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثُ نَرْوِيهَا كَمَا جَاءَتْ»
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: They argued with something that my heart is not strong enough, nor my tongue free enough, to relate. They rejected the narrations and the reports, and I had not thought them to be upon this until I heard their statements. Burghūth began saying to me: 'The body (jism) is such-and-such', and speech that is disbelief in Allah the Mighty. So I kept saying: I do not know what this is, except that I know He is One, Self-Sufficient (Aḥad, Ṣamad), with no likeness and no equal, and He is as He described Himself. And he fell silent before me.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 6/253–256: 'laqad jaʿalah Burghūth yaqūlu yawmaʾidhin: al-jism wa-kadhā, wa-kalām lā afhamuh, fa-qultu: lā aʿrifu wa-lā adrī mā hādhā, illā annanī aʿlamu annahu aḥad ṣamad, lā shibha lahu wa-lā ʿidl, wa-huwah kamā waṣafah nafsah, fa-yaskutu ʿannī'; al-Dhahabī, Siyar 11/262
Source, chain and authenticity
Wording differs between witnesses. Burghūth is Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā Burghūth, a Jahmī mutakallim of the Miḥnah.
Al-Dhahabī said in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ:
فَجعلتُ أَقُوْلُ: مَا أَدرِي مَا هَذَا، إِلاَّ أَنِّي أَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ أَحَدٌ صَمَدٌ لاَ شِبْهَ لَهُ وَلاَ عِدْلَ، وَهُوَ كَمَا وَصفَ نَفْسَهُ
And Burghūth began saying: 'The Jabrī says such-and-such' — speech that is disbelief in Allah. So I began saying: I do not know what this is, except that I know that He is One, Self-Sufficient, with no likeness and no equal, and He is as He described Himself.
al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 11/262, Aḥmad's own account of the Miḥnah (via Ḥanbal)
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وَقَالَ شُعَيْبٌ كَذَلِكَ أَيْضاً: تَقَلَّدْ دَمِي، فَلَمْ يَلْتَفِتْ أَبُو إِسْحَاقَ إِلَيْهِمَا.
وَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ: لَمْ يَكُنْ فِي القَوْمِ أَشَدُّ تَكْفِيْراً لِي مِنْهُمَا، وَأَمَّا ابْنُ سِمَاعَةَ، فَقَالَ:
يَا أَمِيْرَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، إِنَّه مِنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتِ شَرفٍ ولَهُم قَدَمٌ، وَلَعَلَّهُ يَصيرُ إِلَى الَّذِي عَلَيْهِ أَمِيْرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، فَكَأنَّه رقَّ عِنْدَهَا، وَكَانَ إِذَا كَلَّمنِي ابْنُ أَبِي دُوَادَ، لَمْ ألتفتْ إِلَى كَلاَمِه، وَإِذَا كلَّمنِي أَبُو إِسْحَاقَ، أَلَنْتُ لَهُ القَوْلَ.
قَالَ: فَقَالَ فِي اليَوْمِ الثَّالِثِ: أَجِبنِي يَا أَحْمَدُ، فَإِنَّه بَلَغَنِي أَنَّكَ تحبُّ الرِّئاسَةَ، وَذَلِكَ لَمَّا أوَغرُوا قَلْبَه عَلَيَّ.
وَجَعَلَ بَرْغُوْثُ يَقُوْلُ: قَالَ الجَبْرِيُّ: كَذَا وَكَذَا كَلاَمٌ هُوَ الكُفْرُ بِاللهِ.
فَجعلتُ أَقُوْلُ: مَا أَدرِي مَا هَذَا، إِلاَّ أَنِّي أَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ أَحَدٌ صَمَدٌ لاَ شِبْهَ لَهُ وَلاَ عِدْلَ، وَهُوَ كَمَا وَصفَ نَفْسَهُ، فَسَكَتَ.
وَقَالَ لِي أَبُو إِسْحَاقَ: يَا أَحْمَدُ، إِنِّي لأُشْفِقُ عَلَيْكَ كَشفقَتِي عَلَى ابْنِي هَارُوْنَ، فَأَجِبْنِي، وَاللهِ لَودِدتُ أَنِّي لَمْ أَكُنْ عَرفتُكَ يَا أَحْمَدُ، اللهَ اللهَ فِي دَمِكَ.
فلَمَّا كَانَ فِي آخِرِ ذَلِكَ، قَالَ: لَعنكَ اللهُ، لَقَدْ طَمعتُ أَنْ تُجِيبَنِي.
ثُمَّ قَالَ: خُذُوهُ، وَاسحَبُوهُ.
فَأُخذتُ ثُمَّ خُلِّعتُ، وَجِيْءَ بِعُقَابَيْنِ وَأَسيَاطٍ، وَكَانَ مَعِي شعرٌ مِنْ شعرِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ ثُمَّ صُيِّرتُ بَيْنَ العُقَابينِ، فَقُلْتُ: يَا أَمِيْرَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، اللهَ اللهَ، إِنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللهِ ﷺ قَالَ: (لاَ يَحِلُّ دَمُ امْرِئٍ يَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ وَأَنِّي رَسُوْلُ اللهِ إِلاَّ بِإِحْدَى ثَلاَثٍ) ، يَا أَمِيْرَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ، فِيمَ تَسْتحلُّ دَمِي؟ اللهَ اللهَ، لاَ تَلقَ اللهَ وَبَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ مُطَالَبَةٌ، اذكرْ يَا أَمِيْرَ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ وُقُوفَك بَيْنَ يَدَيِ اللهِ -تَعَالَى- كَوقُوفِي بَيْن يَدَيكَ، وَرَاقبِ اللهَ.
فَكَأَنَّهُ أَمسكَ، فَخَافَ ابْنُ أَبِي دُوَادَ أَنْ يَكُوْنَ مِنْهُ عطفٌ أَوْ رَأفَةٌ، فَقَالَ: إِنَّه كَافِرٌ بِاللهِ، ضَالٌّ مُضِلٌّ.
Precision: Aḥmad does not say 'I don't know what a jism is'. He says he does not know what the disputant's jism-talk amounts to, and he answers with Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ and 'He is as He described Himself'. That is the method the series defends: the mutakallim's terms are neither affirmed nor denied, and the revealed descriptions are affirmed.
Al-Radd
Al-Radd said in p.:
…You have combined disbelief and likening; and Allah is exalted above this description. Rather, we say: Allah has never ceased to be speaking when He wills, and we do not say that He was not speaking until He created speech.
al-Radd, p. 139
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Key text for the eternal-yet-willed speech (qadīm al-nawʿ, ḥādith al-āḥād in later terms). 'lam yazal mutakalliman idhā shāʾah' joins eternity ('lam yazal') with will ('idhā shāʾah'). That answers both the Muʿtazilī 'created speech' and the Ashʿarī 'single eternal meaning not connected to will'.
The Creed of Imām Aḥmad: Al-Radd, Tafwīḍ al-Kayf, Tashbīh, "without How and Without Meaning", and Ḥadd
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
١٠ - وقال في رواية حنبل: يضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديق الرسول. وقال: المشبهة تقول بصرٌ كبصري، ويدٌ كيدي، وقدم كقدمي
9 — And he said, in the report of Ḥanbal, about the hadiths that are narrated — 'Allah, Blessed and Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven', 'Allah is seen', 'He places His Foot', and the like: “We believe in them and affirm them as true, without 'how' and without 'meaning' (wa-lā kayf wa-lā maʿnā)! We reject nothing of them, and we know that what the Messenger ﷺ said is true, when [it comes] with authentic chains.” 10 — And he said, in the report of Ḥanbal: “Allah laughs, and we do not know how that is, except by affirming the Messenger as truthful.” And he said: “The mushabbihah say: a sight like my sight, a hand like my hand, a foot like my foot…”
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 50 nos. 9–10, from Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq's reports from Aḥmad
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٩ - وقال في رواية حنبل في الأحاديث التي تروي "إن الله ﵎ ينزل إلى سماء الدنيا" والله يُرى "وأنه يضع قدمه" وما أشبه بذلك نُؤمن بها ونصدق بها ولا كيف ولا معنى! ولا نرد شيئًا منها، ونعلم أن ما قاله الرسول ﷺ حقٌّ إذا كانت بأسانيد صحاح.
١٠ - وقال في رواية حنبل: يضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديق الرسول. وقال: المشبهة تقول بصرٌ كبصري، ويدٌ كيدي، وقدم كقدمي، ومن قال ذلك فقد شبَّه الله بخلقه.
فقد نصَّ أحمد على القول بظاهر الأخبار من غير تشبيهٍ ولا تأويل.
١١ - وذكر عبد الرحمن بن منده في كتاب الإسلام (¬١) فقال أنا يوسف بن محمد السلمي بأصبهان أنا علي بن محمد بن إبراهيم الدمشقي نا عبد الله بن محمد بن جعفر النهاوندي نا أبو بكر محمد بن إبراهيم بن عبد الله نا أحمد بن جعفر بن يعقوب الفارسي قال: قال أبو عبد الله أحمد بن محمد بن حنبل: وقد رأيت لأهل
The chain note ('ʿAbd Allāh' identified by Ghulām [al-Khallāl] as ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAttāb, vol. 2 p. 6) refers to the juzʾ of Ghulām al-Khallāl's Kitāb al-Sunnah .
Ghulām al-Khallāl, Juzʾ from Kitāb al-Sunnah
Ghulām al-Khallāl reported in juzʾ from Kitāb al-Sunnah:
48 — ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Ḥanbal narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: Allah laughs, and we do not know how that is, except by affirming the Messenger as truthful and affirming the Qurʾān.
Ghulām al-Khallāl, juzʾ from Kitāb al-Sunnah p. 522 no. 48; parallels: Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl p. 50 no. 10
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
Aḥmad rejected tashbīh; he said in the report of Ḥanbal: The mushabbihah say: a sight like my sight, a hand like my hand, a foot like my foot; whoever says that has likened Allah to His creation.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 47 no. 3
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٣ - وقد أنكر أحمد التشبيه، فقال في رواية حنبل: المشبهة تقول: بصرٌ كبصري، ويدٌ كيدي، وقَدَمٌ كقدمي، ومن قال ذلك فقد شبَّه الله بخلقه.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Darʾ:
[Ḥanbal:] I said to him: And the mushabbihah — what do they say? He said: Whoever says 'a sight like my sight, a hand like my hand, a foot like my foot' has likened Allah to His creation; and this is limited [i.e. a creature's description]; and this is evil speech, and I do not like speaking about this.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ 2/32, quoting Ḥanbal's report via al-Khallāl
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فهذه صفات وصف الله بها نفسه، لا تدفع ولا ترد، وهو على العرش بلا حد، كما قال تعالى: ﴿ثم استوى على العرش﴾ (الأعراف: ٤٥) كيف شاء، المشيئة إليه ﷿، والاستطالة له، ليس كمثله شيء، وهو خالق كل شيء، وهو كما وصف نفسه سميع بصير بلا حد ولا تقدير، قول إبراهيم لأبيه، ﴿يا أبت لم تعبد ما لا يسمع ولا يبصر﴾ (مريم: ٤٢) فنثبت أن الله سميع بصير، صفاته منه، لا نتعدى القرآن والحديث، والخبر بضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديق الرسول ﷺ، وبتثبيت القرآن، لا يصفه الواصفون، ولا يحده أحد، تعالى الله عما تقوله الجهمية والمشبهة.
قلت له: والمشبهة ما يقولون؟ قال: من قال بصر كبصري، ويد كيدي، وقدم كقدمي، فقد شبه الله بخلقه، وهذا يحده، وهذا كلام سوء، وهذا محمدود، والكلام في هذا لا أحبه.
وقال محمد بن مخلد: قال أحمد: نحن نصف الله بما وصف نفسه، وبما وصفه به رسوله.
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — Al-ʿAqīdah
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — al-ʿAqīdah 3/394 said in citing Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah, K. al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah:
قلت لأبي عبد اللَّه: والمشبهة ما يقولون؟ قال: بصر كبصري، ويد كيدي، وقدم كقدمي. فقد شبه اللَّه بخلقه وهذا كلام سوء، والكلام في هذا لا أحبه. وأسماؤه وصفاته غير مخلوقة؛ نعوذ باللَّه من الزلل والارتياب والشك، إنه على كل شيء قدير
… and He is upon the Throne without a ḥadd; and He said: 'then He rose over the Throne' — however He willed; the will is His, and the power. 'There is nothing like Him' — as He described Himself, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, without a ḥadd and without a measure. I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh: And the mushabbihah — what do they say? He said: 'A sight like my sight, a hand like my hand, a foot like my foot.' Then he has likened Allah to His creation; this is evil speech, and I do not like speaking about this. His names and attributes are uncreated; we seek refuge in Allah from slipping, doubt and uncertainty; He is able to do all things.
al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — al-ʿAqīdah 3/394, citing Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah, K. al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah 3/326–327 (252)
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قلت لأبي عبد اللَّه: والمشبهة ما يقولون؟ قال: بصر كبصري، ويد كيدي، وقدم كقدمي. فقد شبه اللَّه بخلقه وهذا كلام سوء، والكلام في هذا لا أحبه. وأسماؤه وصفاته غير مخلوقة؛ نعوذ باللَّه من الزلل والارتياب والشك، إنه على كل شيء قدير (١).
"الإبانة" لابن بطة كتاب "الرد على الجهمية" ٣/ ٣٢٦ - ٣٢٧ (٢٥٢).
وقال في رواية أبي طالب: "قلب العبد بين أصبعين" (٢)، و"خلق آدم بيده" (٣) وكلما جاء الحديث مثل هذا قلنا به.
قال حنبل: قال أبو عبد اللَّه في الأحاديث التي تروى "إن اللَّه تبارك
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
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
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Same page, just before (no. 120 context): Abū Yaʿlā says 'we do not affirm a coming of transfer (majīʾ intiqāl); we affirm a coming not comprehended (ghayr maʿqūl)'.
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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).
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
50 — Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: And we believe in the hadiths about this and affirm them, and pass them on as they came, without 'how', and without a meaning except according to what He described Himself with, Exalted is He. We ask Allah for safety in this world and the next, and seek refuge in Allah from slipping, uncertainty and doubt; He is able to do all things.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/58 no. 50; also collected in al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm Aḥmad 3/380
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٥١ - قَالَ الْأَثْرَمُ: وَسَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، يَقُولُ: مَنْ قَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُرَى فِي الْآخِرَةِ فَهُوَ جَهْمِيٌّ، قَالَ: وَإِنَّمَا تَكَلَّمَ مَنْ تَكَلَّمَ فِي رُؤْيَةِ الدُّنْيَا
٥٢ - وَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: أَدْرَكْتُ النَّاسَ وَمَا يُنْكِرُونَ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيثِ أَحَادِيثَ الرُّؤْيَةِ وَكَانُوا يُحَدِّثُونَ بِهَا عَلَى الْجُمْلَةِ يُمِرُّونَهَا عَلَى حَالِهَا غَيْرَ مُنْكِرِينَ لِذَلِكَ وَلَا مُرْتَابِينَ
٥٣ - قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: إِذَا لَمْ نُقِرَّ بِمَا جَاءَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ رَدَدْنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ أَمْرَهُ، قَالَ اللَّهُ ﷿: ﴿وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا﴾ [الحشر: ٧]
Ibn Qudāmah said in Taḥrīm al-Naẓar fī Kutub Ahl al-Kalām:
فَقَالَ أَبُو عبد الله رَضِي الله
عَنهُ نؤمن بهَا ونصدق بهَا وَلَا نرد مِنْهَا شَيْئا إِذا كَانَت بأسانيد صِحَاح
وَلَا نرد على الرَّسُول ﷺ قَوْله
ونعلم أَن مَا جَاءَ بِهِ الرَّسُول ﷺ حق وَلَا يُوصف الله تَعَالَى بِأَكْثَرَ مِمَّا وصف بِهِ نَفسه بِلَا حد وَلَا غَايَة ﴿لَيْسَ كمثله شَيْء وَهُوَ السَّمِيع الْبَصِير﴾
فَنَقُول كَمَا قَالَ وَنصفه كَمَا وصف نَفسه لَا نتعدى ذَلِك وَلَا نزيل عَنهُ صفة من صِفَاته لشناعة شنعت
نؤمن بِهَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيث ونقرها ونمرها كَمَا جَاءَت بِلَا كَيفَ وَلَا معنى إِلَى على مَا وصف بِهِ نَفسه ﵎ وَهُوَ كَمَا وصف نَفسه سميع بَصِير بِلَا حد وَلَا تَقْدِير
صِفَاته مِنْهُ وَله
لَا نتعدى الْقُرْآن والْحَدِيث وَالْخَبَر وَلَا نعلم كَيفَ ذَاك إِلَّا بِتَصْدِيق الرَّسُول ﷺ وتثبيت الْقُرْآن
Ḥanbal said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal about these hadiths narrated that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is seen, that He descends to the lowest heaven, that He places His foot, and the like. Abū ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We believe in them and affirm them as true, and reject nothing of them when they come with authentic chains, and we do not reject the Messenger's ﷺ word; we know that what the Messenger ﷺ brought is true; and Allah, Exalted is He, is not described with more than He described Himself with, without ḥadd or extremity — 'There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing'. So we say as He said and describe Him as He described Himself; we do not go beyond that, and do not remove from Him an attribute of His because of a slander that is spread. We believe in these hadiths, affirm them and pass them on as they came, without 'how' and without a meaning except according to what He described Himself with, Blessed and Exalted; He is as He described Himself, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, without ḥadd and without measure. His attributes are from Him and belong to Him; we do not go beyond the Qurʾān, the hadith and the report, and we do not know how that is except by affirming the Messenger ﷺ and establishing the Qurʾān.
Ibn Qudāmah, Taḥrīm al-Naẓar fī Kutub Ahl al-Kalām pp. 38–39
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فَروِيَ عَن مَالك بن أنس وَالْأَوْزَاعِيّ وسُفْيَان الثَّوْريّ وسُفْيَان بن عُيَيْنَة وَمعمر بن رَاشد فِي الْأَحَادِيث فِي الصِّفَات أمروها كَمَا جَاءَت
وَقَالَ أَبُو عمر بن عبد الْبر فِي كتاب الْعلم مَا جَاءَ عَن النَّبِي ﷺ من نقل الثِّقَات وَصَحَّ عَن الصَّحَابَة ﵃ فَهُوَ علم يدان بِهِ
وَمَا أحدث بعدهمْ وَلم يكن لَهُ أصل فِي مَا جَاءَ عَنْهُم فَهُوَ بِدعَة وضلالة
وَمَا جَاءَ فِي أَسمَاء الله وَصِفَاته عَنْهُم نسلم لَهُ وَلم نناظر كَمَا لم يناظروا
وَرَوَاهَا السّلف وسكتوا عَنْهَا وَكَانُوا أعمق النَّاس علما وأوسعهم فهما وَأَقلهمْ تكلفا وَلم يكن سكوتهم عَن عي
فَمن لم يَسعهُ مَا وسعهم فقد خَابَ وخسر
وروى مُحَمَّد بن الْحسن صَاحب أبي حنيفَة أَنه أجمع أهل الْعلم فِي الْمشرق وَالْمغْرب على أَن هَذِه الْأَحَادِيث الَّتِي جَاءَت فِي الصِّفَات لَا تفسر أَو كَمَا قَالَ
وَقَالَ حنبلي سَأَلت أَبَا عبد الله أَحْمد بن مُحَمَّد بن حَنْبَل ﵁ عَن هَذِه الْأَحَادِيث الَّتِي تروي أَن الله ﵎ يرى وَأَنه ينزل إِلَى سَمَاء الدُّنْيَا وَأَنه يضع قدمه وَمَا أشبه ذَلِك
فَقَالَ أَبُو عبد الله رَضِي الله
عَنهُ نؤمن بهَا ونصدق بهَا وَلَا نرد مِنْهَا شَيْئا إِذا كَانَت بأسانيد صِحَاح
وَلَا نرد على الرَّسُول ﷺ قَوْله
ونعلم أَن مَا جَاءَ بِهِ الرَّسُول ﷺ حق وَلَا يُوصف الله تَعَالَى بِأَكْثَرَ مِمَّا وصف بِهِ نَفسه بِلَا حد وَلَا غَايَة ﴿لَيْسَ كمثله شَيْء وَهُوَ السَّمِيع الْبَصِير﴾
فَنَقُول كَمَا قَالَ وَنصفه كَمَا وصف نَفسه لَا نتعدى ذَلِك وَلَا نزيل عَنهُ صفة من صِفَاته لشناعة شنعت
نؤمن بِهَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيث ونقرها ونمرها كَمَا جَاءَت بِلَا كَيفَ وَلَا معنى إِلَى على مَا وصف بِهِ نَفسه ﵎ وَهُوَ كَمَا وصف نَفسه سميع بَصِير بِلَا حد وَلَا تَقْدِير
صِفَاته مِنْهُ وَله
لَا نتعدى الْقُرْآن والْحَدِيث وَالْخَبَر وَلَا نعلم كَيفَ ذَاك إِلَّا بِتَصْدِيق الرَّسُول ﷺ وتثبيت الْقُرْآن
وَقَالَ أَبُو عبد الله حَدثنَا وَكِيع يَوْمًا بِحَدِيث من هَذِه الْأَحَادِيث فاقشعر زَكَرِيَّاء بن عدي فَقَالَ وَكِيع وَغَضب أدركنا الْأَعْمَش وسُفْيَان يحدثُونَ بِهَذِهِ الْأَحَادِيث وَلَا يُنْكِرُونَهَا
وَهَذَا مِمَّا لَا نعلم فِيهِ بَين سلفنا ﵏ اخْتِلَافا وَالْمُنكر لَهُ إِمَّا جَاهِل أَو متجاهل قَلِيل الدّين وَالْحيَاء لَا يخَاف من الله تَعَالَى إِذا كذب وَلَا يستحيي من النَّاس إِذا كذب
وَنحن على طَريقَة سلفنا وجادة أَئِمَّتنَا وَسنة نَبينَا ﷺ مَا أحدثنا قولا وَلَا زِدْنَا زِيَادَة بل آمنا بِمَا جَاءَ وأمررناه كَمَا جَاءَ وَقُلْنَا بِمَا قَالُوا وسكتنا عَمَّا سكتوا عَنهُ وسلكنا حَيْثُ سلكوا فَلَا وَجه لنسبة الْخلاف والبدعة إِلَيْنَا
وَإِنَّمَا تكلم ابْن عقيل على حَال نَفسه فِي حَال بدعته
حِين أحدث فِي دين الله ﷿ وَخَالف سلفه وأئمته وسَادَة أهل مذْهبه وَاتبع أهل الْكَلَام والبدع وَفَارق السّنة وَأخذ فِي الْبِدْعَة أهْدر دَمه وأخيف سربه وَقصد بالأذى والتشريد والإخافة والتطريد وَصَارَ ذليلا حَقِيرًا فنسب حَاله إِلَى من سواهُ وَجعل الْحَدث مِنْهُ حَادِثا مِمَّن عداهُ وكسى وَصفه لغيره وعير أهل السّنة بِمثل ذَنبه
كَمَا قيل رمتني بدائها وانسلت
The same report in Ibn Qudāmah also contains 'we do not remove from Him an attribute of His because of a slander that is spread' and 'we do not know how that is', which fix the sense. Present all three transmissions side by side.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
٤٨ - وَقَالَ: يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمْ، وَيَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهِمْ، وَيُكَلِّمُونَهُ، وَيُكَلِّمُهُمْ كَيْفَ شَاءَ، وَإِذَا شَاءَ
٤٩ - وَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠]، ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا﴾ [الفجر: ٢٢]، فَمَنْ قَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُرَى، فَقَدْ كَفَرَ
47 — Aḥmad said: Whoever says that Allah is not seen in the Hereafter is a Jahmī and has disbelieved. 48 — And he said: They will look at their Lord and He will look at them; they will speak to Him and He to them, however He wills and when He wills. 49 — And Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: Allah's saying '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.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/57 nos. 47–49
Source, chain and authenticity
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
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
PRECISION: the word makān here is the OPPONENTS' inference ('then you have affirmed a place for Him'), reported by Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī, whom al-Dhahabī elsewhere criticises for unreliability in what he reports . ʿAbd al-Ghanī's own reported words are: 'I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent' and 'Allah was when there was no place, and He is not today as He was'.
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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.
The governor's question ('All of these people are on misguidance and you are on the truth?' — 'Yes.') is in Siyar 21/463 .
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
Al-Khallāl said: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal] — when it was said to him: “ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him, ‘How do we know Allah, Mighty and Majestic?’ He said: ‘Above the Throne, with a ḥadd (limit)’” — say: “That has reached me from him,” and it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds…” [al-Baqarah 2:210]; then he recited: “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank” [al-Fajr 89:22].
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34, quoting al-Khallāl, Kitāb al-Sunnah. Parallel with full isnād: Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/158–159 no. 114
Source, chain and authenticity
The same page of Darʾ continues with two more reports al-Khallāl gives: (1) al-Athram < Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaysī: 'I said to Aḥmad: it is reported from Ibn al-Mubārak — it was said to him, How do we know our Lord? — “In the seventh heaven upon His Throne, with a ḥadd.” Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.”' (2) Ḥarb < Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh: 'He is above the Throne with a ḥadd?
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وما في الكلام من نفي تحديد الخلق وتقديرهم لربهم وبلوغهم صفته لا ينافي ما نص عليه أحمد وغيره من الأئمة، كما ذكره الخلال أيضاً، قال: (حدثنا أبو بكر المروزي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله - لما قيل له: روى علي بن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك، أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف الله ﷿؟ قال: على العرش بحد - قال: قد بلغني ذلك عنه، وأعجبه، ثم قال أبو عبد الله: ﴿هل ينظرون إلا أن يأتيهم الله في ظلل من الغمام﴾ (البقرة: ٢١٠) ثم قال: ﴿وجاء ربك والملك صفا صفا﴾ (الفجر: ٢٢) .
قال الخلال: وأنبأنا محمد بن علي الوراق، حدثنا أبو بكر الأثرم، حدثني محمد بن إبراهيم القيسي، قال: قلت لأحمد بن حنبل: يحكى عن ابن المبارك - وقيل له: كيف تعرف ربنا؟ - قال: في السماء السابعة على عرشه بحد، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا.
وأخبرني حرب بن إسماعيل قال: قلت لإسحاق - يعني ابن راهويه -: هو على العرش بحد؟ قال: نعم بحد.
وذكر عن ابن المبارك قال: هو على عرشه بائن من خلقه بحد.
قال: وأخبرنا المروزي قال: قال إسحاق بن إبراهيم بن راهويه: قال الله ﵎: ﴿الرحمن على العرش استوى﴾ (طه: ٥)
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
What occurs in [Aḥmad's] words by way of negating that creatures delimit their Lord, measure Him, or attain [knowledge of] His attribute does not contradict what Aḥmad and other imams explicitly stated, as al-Khallāl also reported…
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34
Source, chain and authenticity
The Creed of the Early Ḥanbalīs, Before 400 AH
All three must be cited with their variants.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
* ولله [﷿] (¬٩) عرش، وللعرش حَمَلَةٌ يحملونه.
* وله حد، الله أعلم بحده
…say: He means by that only [His] knowledge, because Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is upon the Throne above the highest seventh heaven, knowing all of that, and He is separate from His creation; no place is devoid of His knowledge. — And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has a Throne, and the Throne has bearers who carry it. — And He has a ḥadd (limit); Allah best knows His ḥadd.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 57
Source, chain and authenticity
Editor's footnote 10 on this line (editor's view, not Ḥarb's): ḥadd is among the ambiguous terms (al-alfāẓ al-mujmalah) not found in the revealed texts in negation or affirmation; Ahl al-Sunnah neither affirm nor negate such terms without explanation — then explains the intended meaning.
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* ولله [﷿] (¬٩) عرش، وللعرش حَمَلَةٌ يحملونه.
* وله حد، الله أعلم بحده (¬١٠).
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
And the Jahmiyyah, enemies of Allah, are those who claim that the Qurʾān is created; that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not speak to Moses; that Allah does not speak; that He is not seen; that no place (makān) is known for Allah; and that Allah has neither Throne nor Kursī; and much else that I dislike to relate. They are disbelievers, heretics, enemies of Allah, so beware of them.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 81; Masāʾil Ḥarb, ed. Fāyiz Ḥābis 3/980; quoted by al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww p. 194
Source, chain and authenticity
TEXTUAL VARIANT: the clause 'wa-lā yurā, wa-lā yuʿraf lillāh makān, wa-laysah lillāh ʿarsh wa-lā kursī' is ABSENT from the version transmitted in Ibn Abī Yaʿlā's Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah (editor's siglum ط), but present in the Masāʾil text and in al-Dhahabī's citation. The editor of Ijmāʿ al-Salaf marks it in brackets with footnote: 'lā tūjad fī (ṭ)'. Any citation of this clause must name the Masāʾil/al-Dhahabī transmission, not the Ṭabaqāt.
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* والواقفة: وهم الذين يزعمون [أنا نقول إن القرآن كلام الله، ولا نقول غير مخلوق (¬٦) وهم شر الأصناف وأخبثها.
* واللفظية: وهم الذين يزعمون أنا نقول] (¬٧) إن القرآن كلام الله، ولكن ألفاظنا بالقرآن [وتلاوتنا] (¬٨) وقراءتنا له مخلوقة (¬٩)، وهم جهمية فساق.
* والرافضة (¬١٠): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
489 — I heard my father (may Allah have mercy on him) [say]: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated to us the hadith of Sufyān, from al-Aʿmash, from Manṣūr, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbīdah, from ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Masʿūd], from the Prophet ﷺ: “Allah holds the heavens upon a finger.” My father (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Yaḥyā began pointing with his fingers. And my father showed me how he pointed with his finger, placing one finger after another until he reached the last of them.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/264 no. 489
Source, chain and authenticity
The isnād is given in full above as it stands in the book.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
…He is not ignorant; Generous, not miserly; Forbearing, not hasty; Preserving, not forgetful; Ever-wakeful, not distracted; Watchful, not heedless. He speaks, and moves, [and hears and sees], and looks, [and grasps] and extends, [and laughs], [and rejoices, loves, dislikes, hates…]
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 60
Source, chain and authenticity
TEXTUAL VARIANTS (editor's footnotes on this page): 'wa-yataḥarrak' — in (ṭ) [Ṭabaqāt]: 'yataḥarrak wa-yatakallam'; in MS (ḥ) 'yataḥarrak' is ABSENT. 'raqīb' — in (ṭ) and (ḥ): 'qarīb'. Editor's doctrinal note (fn. 4): the word ḥarakah is not in the Book or Sunnah and the Salaf used it only in refuting the Muʿaṭṭilah; preferable to keep to scriptural wording (nuzūl, ityān, majīʾ), citing Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 16/423–424; Naqḍ al-Dārimī 1/215; Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣawāʿiq 4/1230. Editor also notes 'Yaqẓān' is not an established Name of Allah. These are the editor's words, not Ḥarb's.
Kitāb al-Sunnah
It is recorded:
585 — My father narrated to me: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us, from Sufyān, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, from ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “When He, Blessed and Exalted, sits upon the Kursī, a creaking is heard from it like the creaking of a new saddle.”
Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/301 no. 585
Source, chain and authenticity
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
216 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Shabbawayh Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to me, saying: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan, i.e. Ibn Shaqīq, say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh [ibn al-Mubārak] say: “Faith is speech and action; it increases and decreases.” And I heard him say: “We [can] relate the speech of the Jews and Christians, but we cannot bring ourselves to relate the speech of the Jahmiyyah.” He said: And I heard ʿAbd Allāh say: “We know our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, as above seven heavens, upon the Throne, separate from His creation, with a ḥadd; and we do not say as the Jahmiyyah say: ‘Here’” — and he pointed with his hand to the earth.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/174–175 no. 216
Source, chain and authenticity
Speaker of 'we know our Lord' is Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181), narrated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad — the label's 'Imam Ahmad's son narrating' is accurate as to the narrator.
Al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah
Al-Khallāl reported in al-Sunnah:
[حاشية:] (١) في إسناده: غالب بن عبد الله العقيلي؟ … قال البخاري في «التاريخ الكبير» (٧/ ١٠١): منكر الحديث، وقال الدارقطني وغيره: متروك. «الميزان» (٣/ ٣٣١).
292 — Abū Bakr [al-Khallāl] said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn ʿAlī ibn Masʿadah mentioned: Yaḥyā ibn Kathīr narrated to us: Salm ibn Jaʿfar al-Bakrāwī narrated to us, from al-Jurayrī, from Sayf al-Sadūsī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām, who said: On the Day of Resurrection, the Compeller will descend from His Throne, with His feet upon the Kursī, and your Prophet (peace be upon him) will be brought and seated before Him on the Kursī … [Editor's footnote, partly legible: in its chain is a narrator whom al-Bukhārī called 'munkar al-ḥadīth' and al-Dāraquṭnī and others 'matrūk' (al-Mīzān 3/331).]
al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah no. 292; Partial parallels: al-Ghunyah 1/151, Ibṭāl (Īlāf ed.) 2/477
Source, chain and authenticity
A report of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām (mawqūf, Isrāʾīliyyāt-type material) with a matrūk narrator per the editor; it cannot carry the claim 'al-Khallāl affirmed that Allah descends from His Throne' beyond 'al-Khallāl narrated this report'.
Al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah
Al-Khallāl reported in al-Sunnah:
245 — Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib informed us: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shayba narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from Layth, from Mujāhid, [on] “It may be that your Lord will raise you to a praised station” [al-Isrāʾ 17:79]: he said, “He will seat him with Himself upon the Throne.” Abū Bakr ibn Abī Ṭālib said: Whoever rejects it has rejected [what is] from Allah, Mighty and Majestic; and whoever denies a merit of the Prophet ﷺ has disbelieved in Allah the Magnificent.
al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah 1/215 no. 164. Parallel: no. 243 with 'yuqʿiduhu ʿalā al-ʿarsh'
Source, chain and authenticity
The label should be restated to match the text: 'al-Khallāl narrates Mujāhid's tafsīr that the Prophet ﷺ will be seated with Him on the Throne'.
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٢٤٧ - وَأَخْبَرَنِي أَحْمَدُ بْنُ أَصْرَمَ الْمُزَنِيُّ، بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ، وَقَالَ: «مَنْ رَدَّ هَذَا فَهُوَ مُتَّهَمٌ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَهُوَ عِنْدَنَا كَافِرٌ، وَزَعَمَ أَنَّ مَنَ قَالَ ⦗٢١٦⦘ بِهَذَا فَهُوَ ثَنَوِيُّ، فَقَدْ زَعَمَ أَنَّ الْعُلَمَاءَ وَالتَّابِعِينَ ثَنَوِيَّةٌ، وَمَنْ قَالَ بِهَذَا فَهُوَ زِنْدِيقٌ يُقْتَلُ»
٢٤٣ - أَخْبَرَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ وَاصِلٍ الْمُقْرِئُ، قَالَ: ثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، قَالَ: ثَنَا ابْنُ فُضَيْلٍ، عَنْ لَيْثٍ، عَنْ مُجَاهِدٍ: ﴿عَسَى أَنْ يَبْعَثَكَ رَبُّكَ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا﴾ [الإسراء: ٧٩] قَالَ: «يُقْعِدُهُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ» . فَسَمِعْتُ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ وَاصِلٍ، قَالَ: مَنْ رَدَّ حَدِيثَ مُجَاهِدٍ فَهُوَ جَهْمِيُّ
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah:
أخبرنا حرب بن إسماعيل قال قلت لإسحاق يعني ابن راهوية على العرش بحد قال نعم بحد وذكر عن ابن المبارك قال هو على عرشه بائن من خلقه بحد
[al-Khallāl said: …] al-Athram [informed me]: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaysī narrated to us, saying: I said to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal: It is related from Ibn al-Mubārak — it was said to him: How do we know our Lord? He said: In the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, with a ḥadd. Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.” Al-Khallāl said: Ḥarb ibn Ismāʿīl informed me, saying: I said to Isḥāq, i.e. Ibn Rāhawayh: [Is He] upon the Throne with a ḥadd? He said: Yes, with a ḥadd. And he mentioned from Ibn al-Mubārak that he said: He is upon His Throne, separate from His creation, with a ḥadd.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah 2/615–616
Source, chain and authenticity
Ibn Taymiyyah, Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl:
And that position is well known among the imams, such as Ḥammād ibn Zayd, Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh and others. Al-Khallāl said in Kitāb al-Sunnah: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī narrated to us: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Muqaddamī narrated to us: Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb narrated to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Sarī asked Ḥammād ibn Zayd: “O Abū Ismāʿīl, the hadith that has come, ‘Allah descends to the lowest heaven’: does He shift from place to place?” Ḥammād ibn Zayd was silent, then said: “He is in His place, drawing near to His creation however He wills.” And Ibn Baṭṭah narrated it in al-Ibānah, saying: …
Ibn Taymiyyah, Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl p. 40; = Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 5/376; also Darʾ Taʿāruḍ 2/25. Original: al-Khallāl, Kitāb al-Sunnah (portion not extant in the surviving volumes
Source, chain and authenticity
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
They said: We do not say He is upon the Throne, because He is greater than the Throne, and because if He were upon the Throne many places would be empty of Him, and we would have likened Him to His creation — when one of them is in his house he is only in the spot where he is, and the rest of his house is empty of him; rather we say He is beneath the seventh earth as He is above the seventh heaven, and He is in every place, no place is empty of Him, and He is not in one place to the exclusion of another. We said: As for your saying 'He is not upon the Throne because He is greater than the Throne': Allah willed to be upon the Throne while He is greater than it; Allah said: 'Then He directed Himself to the heaven' [2:29], and said: 'And He is Allah in the heavens', then said: 'and in the earth He knows' [6:3] — so He informed that He is in the heaven and that by His knowledge He is in the earth; and He said: 'The Most Merciful rose over the Throne' [20:5] … and 'To Him ascends the good word' [35:10] — and is ascending to anything but what is above?
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/137; the same text in the editor's footnote to Aḥmad's al-Radd
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Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
Rather, we say: Our Lord, Exalted is He, is in the loftiest of places and the highest of the high (aʿlā ʿilliyyīn); He has risen over His Throne above His heavens, and His knowledge encompasses all His creation: He knows what is far as He knows what is near, and knows what is hidden as He knows what is manifest, as He, Exalted is He, described Himself…
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/141; also quoted in the editor's footnote to Aḥmad's al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah, ed. Ṣabrī, p. 156
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Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah reported in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
114 — Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Rajāʾ narrated to us: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Baṣrawī narrated to us: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad] — it having been said to him: “ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him, ‘How do we know Allah?’ He said: ‘Above the Throne, with a ḥadd’” — and he said: “That has reached me from him,” and it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds, and the angels…” [2:210]; then he recited: “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank” [89:22].
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/158–159 no
Source, chain and authenticity
This is the full-isnād version of the report Ibn Taymiyyah quotes from al-Khallāl .
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١١٥ - وَقَالَ يُوسُفُ بْنُ مُوسَى الْقَطَّانُ: قِيلَ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: وَاللَّهُ تَعَالَى فَوْقَ السَّمَاءِ السَّابِعَةِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، وَقُدْرَتُهُ، وَعِلْمُهُ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ لَا يَخْلُو شَيْءٌ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ
١١٦ - قَالَ أَبُو طَالِبٍ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ رَجُلٍ قَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا، وَتَلَا هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧]، ⦗١٦٠⦘ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: قَدْ تَجَهَّمَ هَذَا، يَأْخُذُونَ بِآخِرِ الْآيَةِ، وَيَدْعُونَ أَوَّلَهَا: ﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾: الْعِلْمُ مَعَهُمْ، وَقَالَ فِي ق: ﴿وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ، وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ﴾ [ق: ١٦]، فَعِلْمُهُ مَعَهُمْ
١١٧ - وَقِيلَ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: فَرَجُلٌ قَالَ: أَقُولُ كَمَا قَالَ تَعَالَى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ وَلَا خَمْسَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ سَادِسُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧]، أَقُولُ هَكَذَا وَلَا أُجَاوِزُهُ إِلَى غَيْرِهِ؟، فَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: هَذَا كَلَامُ الْجَهْمِيَّةِ، ⦗١٦١⦘ قَالُوا: كَيْفَ نَقُولُ؟ قَالَ: عِلْمُهُ مَعَهُمْ، وَأَوَّلُ الْآيَةِ يَدُلُّ عَلَى أَنَّهُ عِلْمُهُ، ثُمَّ قَرَأَ: ﴿يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٦]. . . الْآيَةَ،
١١٨ - وَقِيلَ لِإِسْحَاقَ بْنِ رَاهَوَيْهِ: قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧] كَيْفَ تَقُولَ فِيهِ؟ قَالَ: وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتَ فَهُوَ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ، وَهُوَ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، قَالَ حَرْبٌ: قُلْتُ لِإِسْحَاقَ بْنِ رَاهَوَيْهِ: الْعَرْشُ بِحَدٍّ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، وَذُكِرَ عَنِ ابْنِ الْمُبَارَكِ قَالَ: هُوَ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ بِحَدٍّ ⦗١٦٢⦘
١١٩ - قَالَ حَرْبٍ: وَأَمْلَى عَلَيَّ إِسْحَاقُ: أَنَّ اللَّهَ وَصَفَ نَفْسَهُ فِي كِتَابِهِ بِصِفَاتٍ اسْتَغْنَى الْخَلْقُ أَنْ يَصِفُوهُ بِغَيْرِ مَا وَصَفَ بِهِ نَفْسَهُ، وَمِنْ ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُ ﴿إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠]، وَقَوْلُهُ: ﴿الْمَلَائِكَةَ حَافِّينَ مِنْ حَوْلِ الْعَرْشِ﴾ [الزمر: ٧٥]، فِي آيَاتٍ كُلِّهَا تَصِفُ الْعَرْشَ، وَقَدْ ثَبَتَتِ الرِّوَايَاتُ فِي الْعَرْشِ، وَأَعْلَى شَيْءٍ فِيهِ، وَأَثْبَتُهُ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ [طه: ٥]
Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, Ed. al-Faqīhī
Ibn Mandah said in Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, ed. al-Faqīhī:
Commentary: Under this heading the author has mentioned the attribute of descent (nuzūl) for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in the manner befitting His majesty and perfection, as He said: “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” He cited this volitional attribute of Allah — the descent to judge between His servants, as in the verse he mentioned, and then the descent to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, when He says: “Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will ask Me that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?” This wording in this narration, and the wordings that come after it, are all explicit in indicating that the descent is real (ḥaqīqah); it is not valid to reinterpret it, because interpreting it as [the descent of] an angel is refuted by the explicit wording of the hadith: an angel does not step forward before his Lord and say to the servants — while he is a creature like them — “Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?”, since none answers the caller except Allah, as He said: “And your Lord said: Call upon Me; I will answer you” [Ghāfir 40:60], and none forgives sins except Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “Indeed Allah forgives all sins” [al-Zumar 39:53]. Had the one commanded [to speak] been an angel, he would have said: “Your Lord says: Who will call upon Him that He may answer him? Who will seek His forgiveness that He may forgive him?”
Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, ed. al-Faqīhī, 3/300 — EDITOR'S COMMENTARY. Shamela's copy of this edition does not carry the editor's taʿlīq
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: ...
ATTRIBUTION : the argument that it cannot be an angel descending is the EDITOR's commentary (al-Faqīhī) in Ibn Mandah's Kitāb al-Tawḥīd 3/300, not Ibn Mandah's words. Restate as 'Ibn Mandah narrated the hadith of nuzūl under the heading of the attribute; his editor argues …'.
Ibn al-Jawzī, Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh, Usul.ai Digital Text Vol.
Ibn al-Jawzī reported in Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh, usul.ai digital text vol.:
وقال وذهبت طائفة إلى أن الله تعالى على عرشه قد ملأه والأشبه أنه مماس للعرش والكرسي موضع قدميه
قلت المماسة إنما تقع بين جسمين وما أبقى هذا في التجسيم بقية
Whoever takes it [maʿiyyah] as knowledge, his opponent takes istiwāʾ as subjugation. ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Dabbās informed us: Rizq Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī informed us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal used to say: istiwāʾ is an accepted attribute, and it does not mean aiming nor rising-over (istiʿlāʾ). He said: And Aḥmad did not speak of a direction (jiha) for the Creator, because directions are void of what is other than them. And Ibn Ḥāmid said: The Real (al-Ḥaqq) is specific to one place to the exclusion of another, and His place in which He is, is the existence of His Essence upon His Throne. He said: And a group held that Allah, Exalted is He, is upon His Throne and has filled it, and the more likely is that He touches the Throne, and the Kursī is the place of His feet. I [Ibn al-Jawzī] say: Contact occurs only between two bodies; this has left nothing of tajsīm out.
Ibn al-Jawzī, Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh, usul.ai digital text vol. 1 p
Abū Yaʿlā, al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn
Abū Yaʿlā said in al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn:
They differed regarding its description. Our shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Ibn Ḥāmid] held that it is a descent of transfer (nuzūl intiqāl). He said: because this is the reality of descent (ḥaqīqat al-nuzūl) among the Arabs; and this is parallel to his position on istiwāʾ, namely ‘sat’ (qaʿadah); and this accords with the apparent sense of the hadith of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit; and because the most that can be said of it is that it is, in our case, an attribute of origination (ḥadath), yet this does not make Him originated (muḥdath) in His case — like istiwāʾ upon the Throne: He is described by it, while we differ as to its description, even though this istiwāʾ was not something He was described with in pre-eternity. Likewise we say: He spoke with letter and sound, and although that entails origination in our attributes, it does not entail it in His case. Likewise descent.
Abū Yaʿlā, al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn p. 58
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EDITOR'S FOOTNOTES on this page: (3) 'He means Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥāmid'; (4) 'Ibn al-Jawzī reported this view from him in Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh p. 45, and Shaykh al-Islām in Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 5/402.' The page continues: 'Our shaykh related from a group of our companions that they said: He descends means His power…' — i.e.
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واختلفوا في صفته: فذهب شيخنا أبو عبد الله (¬٣) إلى أنه نزول انتقال (¬٤)، قال: لأن هذا حقيقة النزول عند العرب، وهذا نظير قوله في الاستواء، يعني قعد، وهذا على ظاهر حديث عبادة بن الصامت، ولأن أكثر ما في هذا أنه من صفات الحدث في حقنا، وهذا لا يوجب كونه في حقه محدثًا، كالاستواء على العرش، هو موصوف به مع اختلافنا في صفته، وإن كان هذا الاستواء لم يكن موصوفا به في القدم، وكذلك نقول تكلم بحرف وصوت، وإن كان هذا يوجب الحدث في صفاتنا ولا يوجبه في حقه، كذلك النزول.
وحكي شيخنا عن طائفة من أصحابنا أنهم قالوا: ينزل معناه: قدرته، ولعل هذا القائل ذهب إلى ظاهر كلام أحمد في رواية حنبل أنه قال: احتجوا علىَّ يومئذ بقوله تجئ البقرة يوم القيامة ويجئ تبارك (¬٥) وقلت
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
It is not permissible to take the hadith of Abū Hurayra as blaming those who affirm the attributes, because Allah, Glorified is He, described Himself in His Book in more than one place, His Messenger described Him in the authentic hadiths, and the Salaf of this Ummah affirmed that, as we shall show; so it only remains to take it as referring to those who speak about it with what the Sharīʿah did not bring. Know that it is not permissible to reject these reports, as a group of the Muʿtazilah held, nor to busy oneself with interpreting them, as the Ashʿariyyah held. What is obligatory is to take them according to their apparent sense, and that they are attributes of Allah, Exalted is He, not resembling the other things described with them among creatures, and we do not believe tashbīh in them — following what is narrated from our shaykh and imam Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal and other imams of the people of hadith, that they said about these reports: 'Pass them on as they came'; so they took them according to their apparent sense, as attributes of Allah not resembling the other things described.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 48
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Abū Yaʿlā explicitly reads Aḥmad's 'amirrūhā kamā jāʾat' as 'they took them on their apparent sense' — the earliest Ḥanbalī explanation of imrār, against reading it as tafwīḍ al-maʿnā.
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ولا يجوز أن يحمل حديث أبي هريرة على ذم مُثبتي الصفات؛ لأنَّ الله سبحانه قد وصَفَ نفسه في كتابه في غير موضع، ووصفه رسوله بالأحاديث الصحاح، وأثبت ذلك سلف هذه الأمة، على ما نبيِّنه، فلم يبق إلا أن يُحمل على ما ذكرنا ممن تكلم فيه بما لم يرد به الشرع. واعلم أنه لا يجوز ردُّ هذه الأخبار، على ما ذهب إليه جماعة من المعتزلة، ولا التشاغل بتأويلها على ما ذهب إليه الأشعرية. والواجب حملها على ظاهرها، وأنها صفات لله تعالى، لا تُشبه سائر الموصوفين بها من الخلق، ولا نعتقد التشبيه فيها، لكن على ما روي عن شيخنا وإمامنا أبي عبد الله أحمد بن محمد بن حنبل وغيره من أئمة أصحاب الحديث، أنهم قالوا في هذه الأخبار: أمرُّوها كما جاءت، فحملوها على ظاهرها في أنها صفات لله تعالى لا تشبه سائر الموصوفين.
٥ - فقال أحمد في رسالة عبدوس بن مالك العطار (¬١): يجب الإيمان بالقدر،
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
وتأوَّله بعضهم على ﷺ وأنَّه هو جالس على كرسيه في الجنَّة بين يدي الله تعالى.
وهذا غلط، لأنَّ في الخبر تصريح باسم الله تعالى
As for his statement in the hadith of ʿUmar, “When He sits upon the Kursī,” it is not impossible to take it according to its apparent sense, and that His Essence (dhāt) sits upon the Kursī — not by way of direction (jiha) and limit (ḥadd), nor by way of bodily mass (juththa) and parts (abʿāḍ) — just as He described Himself with istiwāʾ upon the Throne, and that is taken according to its apparent sense as an istiwāʾ of the Essence, not by way of direction and parts; and likewise with the Kursī. They have reinterpreted the sitting and istiwāʾ upon the Kursī in the same way as their reinterpretation of istiwāʾ upon the Throne, and discussion of it is forthcoming. Some of them interpreted it as referring to the Prophet ﷺ, i.e. that he will be seated upon his chair in Paradise before Allah, Exalted is He. This is a mistake, because the report explicitly names Allah, Exalted is He.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 585
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EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE (Ghirās edition, the editor's words, not Abū Yaʿlā's): 'Describing Allah with julūs did not come in the Book, the Sunnah, or the speech of the Salaf! Even though the domain of reporting (ikhbār) is wider than that of names and attributes, a meaning unbefitting Allah — need and dependence — may be understood from this word, so turning away from it is obligatory.'
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وهذا يمنع تأويله على العِلم، لأنَّ العِلم لا يتَّصف بالقَوائم، وبكونه تحت العَرش، ولأنَّه أضافَ القدمين إليه، والعلم لا يختص بالكُرسي ولا بالقدمين.
وأمَّا قوله في حديث عمر "إذَا جَلَسَ على الكُرسي" فغيرُ ممتنع حمله على ظاهره، وأنَّ ذاته جالسة على الكرسي (¬١) لا على وجه الجهة والحدّ، ولا على وجه الجثَّة والأَبْعَاض، كما وَصَفَ نفسه تعالى بالإستواء على العرش، وأنَّ ذلك محمول على ظاهره في استواء الذات، لا على وجه الجهة والأبعاض، كذلك في الكرسي، وقد تأولوا الجلوس والإستواء على الكرسي، على نَحو تَأويلهم الإستواء على العرش، ويأتي الكلام فيه.
وتأوَّله بعضهم على ﷺ وأنَّه هو جالس على كرسيه في الجنَّة بين يدي الله تعالى.
وهذا غلط، لأنَّ في الخبر تصريح باسم الله تعالى، ولا يمتنع أيضًا أنْ يحصل للكرسي أَطِيط بجلوس ذاته عليه، لا على وجه الاعتماد والمماسَّةِ وثُقْل الجُثَّة، كما قلنا في حديث خالد بن معدان "إنَّ الرحْمنَ ليثْقِل على
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
فأما قوله "لن نعدم من ربّ يضحك خيرًا" فذلك لأنَّ الضحك يدلُّ على الرِّضا، والرضا يدل على العفو والمغفرة، وقد ذكر ابن قتيبة هذا التأويل في كتاب "اللفظ" (¬٢) وأجاب عنه بأنَّه إنْ كان في الضحك الذي فَرَّوا منه تشبيهٌ بالإنسان، فإن في هذا تشبيهًا بهذه المعاني.
It is answered: We say about it what you say about anger, pleasure and dislike, with the permissibility of this division; and it is not impossible that it be an attribute of the Essence which He manifests at one time, as He manifests His Essence at one time and not another; and that does not lead to what they said, because the one whose laughter is much is called 'ḍuḥakah' only when his laughter is from insolence and arrogance, and that is impossible in His attributes, Glorified is He. As for his saying 'We shall not lack good from a Lord who laughs', that is because laughter indicates pleasure, and pleasure indicates pardon and forgiveness. Ibn Qutaybah mentioned this interpretation in his book 'al-Lafẓ' and answered it: if there is, in the laughter they fled from, a likening to man, then there is in this [interpretation] a likening by these [other] meanings.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 263
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The closing argument (Ibn Qutaybah's) is the general rule against selective taʾwīl: any interpretation that escapes 'likening' by substituting another attribute (pleasure, forgiveness) faces the same objection.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā reported in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
٥٥٠ - وقال الأثرم: قلت لأحمد: يحكى عن ابن المبارك: نعرف ربنا في السَّماء السَّابعة، على عرشه بحدّ، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا (¬١).
٥٥١ - ورأيت بخط أبي إسحاق أنا أبو بكر أحمد بن نصر الرفا قال: سمعت أبا بكر بن أبي داود سمعت أبي يقول: جَاء رجل إلى أحمد بن حنبل، فقال له: للَّه ﵎ حَدُّ؟ قال: نعم لا يَعْلمه إلا هُو، قال ﵎: ﴿وَتَرَى الْمَلَائِكَةَ حَافِّينَ مِنْ حَوْلِ الْعَرْشِ﴾ [الزمر: ٧٥] يقول: مُحْدِقيَن. فقد أطلقَ أحمد القول بإثْباتِ الحدِّ لله تعالى.
٥٥٢ - وقد نفاه في رواية حنبل فقال: نحنُ نُؤمن بأن الله على العرش، كيفَ شَاء وكما شَاء، بلا حَدٍّ ولا صِفَةٍ يَبْلُغُها وَاصِف أو يحدُّه أَحَد.
فقد نفى الحَدَّ عنه على الصِّفة المذكورة، وهو الحد الذي يعلمه خلقه.
والموضع الذي أطلقه محمول على معنيين:
أحدهما: على معنى أنَّه تعالى في جهة مخصوصة، وليس هو تعالى ذاهِب في الجهات الستة، بل هو خَارج العالم مُمَيَّز عن خَلْقِه، مُنْفَصِل عنهم غير دَاخل في كل الجهات!.
وهذا معنى قول أحمد: له حدٌّ لا يعلمه إلا هو.
والثاني: أنَّه على صِفة يَبينُ بها عن غيره ويتميز، ولهذا سُمِّي البوَّاب حدادًا، لأنَّه يمنع غيره عن الدخول، فهو تعالى فَرْد واحد ممتنع عن الإشتراك له في أَخصِّ صفاته.
وقد منعنا من إطلاق القول بالحدِّ في غير موضعٍ من كتابنا، ويجب أنْ يجوز على الوجه الذي ذكرنا.
ويجب أنْ يحمل اختلاف كلام أحمد في إثبات الحدِّ، على اختلاف حالين: فالموضع الذي قال إنَّه (على) (¬١) العرش بحدٍّ، معناه: أن ما حاذى العَرش منْ ذَاته هو حدّ له، وجِهَة له.
والموضع الذي قال: هو على العرش بغير حَدٍّ، معناه: ما عَدَا الجهة المُحَاذِية للعَرش، وهي الفوق والخلف والأمام واليمنة واليسرة، وكان الفرق بين جهة التحت المحاذية للعرش، وبين غيرها مما ذكرنا: أن جهة التحت تُحاذي العرش بما قد ثَبَتَ من الدليل، والعرش محدود، فجاز أنْ يُوصف ما حَاذَاه من الذَّات أنَّه حد وجهة.
وليس كذلك فيما عَدَاه، لأنَّه لا يُحاذي ما هو مَحدود، بل هو ما دلَّ في اليمنةِ واليسرةِ والفَوقِ والأَمامِ والخلفِ إلى غير غاية، فلهذا لم يُوصف واحد من ذلك بالحدِّ والجهة.
وجهة العرش تحاذي ما قابله من جهة الذَّات، ولم يُحاذِ جميع الذات، لأنه لا نهاية لها.
549 — Aḥmad stated it without qualification in the report of al-Marrūdhī: Ibn al-Mubārak's statement was mentioned to him, “We know Allah upon the Throne with a ḥadd,” and Aḥmad said: “That has reached me,” and it pleased him. 550 — Al-Athram said: I said to Aḥmad: It is related from Ibn al-Mubārak: “We know our Lord in the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, with a ḥadd.” Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.” 551 — I saw in the handwriting of Abū Isḥāq: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Raffāʾ informed us, saying: I heard Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd [say]: I heard my father say: A man came to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and said to him: “Does Allah, Blessed and Exalted, have a ḥadd?” He said: “Yes, one that none knows but He. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: ‘And you will see the angels surrounding (ḥāffīn) the Throne’ [al-Zumar 39:75] — He says: encircling it (muḥdiqīn).” So Aḥmad stated the affirmation of ḥadd for Allah, Exalted is He, without qualification. 552 — And he negated it in the report of Ḥanbal, saying: “We believe that Allah is upon the Throne, however He wills and as He wills, without a ḥadd and without a description that a describer can attain or that anyone can delimit.” So he negated the ḥadd of Him in the manner mentioned, which is the ḥadd that His creatures would know. The place where he stated it without qualification is to be understood in two senses. The first: that He, Exalted is He, is in a specific direction and is not spread out in the six directions; rather He is outside the world, distinct from His creation, separate from them, not inside all the directions — and this is the meaning of Aḥmad's statement, “He has a ḥadd that none knows but He.” The second: that He is of a description by which He is distinct and differentiated from others — hence the doorkeeper is called ḥaddād, because he prevents others from entering; so He, Exalted is He, is singular, one, beyond sharing in His most specific attributes. We have forbidden the unqualified use of the word ḥadd in more than one place in our book, but it must be permitted in the sense we have mentioned. Aḥmad's differing statements on affirming the ḥadd must be understood as referring to two different respects: where he said He is [upon] the Throne with a ḥadd, it means that the part of His Essence facing the Throne is a ḥadd for Him and a direction for Him; and where he said He is upon the Throne without a ḥadd, it means what lies beyond the direction facing the Throne — above, behind, in front, right and left. The difference between the downward direction facing the Throne and the others is that the downward direction faces the Throne by established proof, and the Throne is limited, so it is permissible to describe what faces it of the Essence as a ḥadd and a direction; that is not so for the others, because they do not face anything limited, but rather extend to the right, left, above, in front and behind without end; hence none of them is described with ḥadd and direction. And the direction of the Throne faces what is opposite it of the Essence, not the whole Essence, because it has no end.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt pp. 598–599, nos. 549–552
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EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE on no. 550 (Ghirās edition): 'An authentic report (athar ṣaḥīḥ): narrated by al-Bukhārī in Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād (p. 8), ʿAbd Allāh in al-Sunnah (22), al-Dārimī in al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah (p. 23), Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṣābūnī in his ʿAqīdah (28), Ibn Baṭṭah in al-Ibānah (112), Ibn Mandah in al-Tawḥīd (899), al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ (2/336), Ibn Qudāmah in Ithbāt al-ʿUluww (99), by routes from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq from Ibn al-Mubārak. Ibn Taymiyyah said after citing it in al-Ḥamawiyyah (p. 269): with authentic chains; Ibn al-Qayyim said in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh (p. 134): with the most authentic chain.' (The editor's grading, quoted as his.) The second half of no. 552 (the 'facing the Throne' explanation and 'without end' in the other directions) is Abū Yaʿlā's own theory; it is reproduced in full so his view is not misrepresented, and it is not the position of Ibn Taymiyyah, who explains the negation as negation of creatures' comprehension .
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah:
[Ibn Taymiyyah, on Abū Yaʿlā's explanation:] What he mentioned in interpreting Aḥmad's words is not correct; rather Aḥmad's words are as he [Abū Yaʿlā] said at first: where he negated it [the ḥadd], he negated the delimiter's delimiting of Him and [creatures'] knowledge of His ḥadd; and where he affirmed it, he affirmed it in Himself. The word ḥadd is said of the reality of the delimited thing — its description, or its extent, or both — and is said of the knowledge and the statement that indicate the delimited thing.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah 3/736
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The Creed of the Classical Ḥanbalīs, 400–800 AH
Al-Harawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd
Al-Harawī reported in al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd:
١٦ - حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالب أنبا الرفا ثَنَا مُبشر بْنُ
مُوسَى ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ ثَنَا سُفْيَانُ ثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ أَوْسٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ عَبْدَ اللهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ﵁ يَقُولُ
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ عَلَى مَنَابِرَ مِنْ نُورٍ عَنْ يَمِينِ الرَّحْمَنِ ﷿ وَكِلْتَا يَدَيْهِ يَمِينٌ
(16) Chapter: Affirming the directions (al-jihāt) for Allah, Mighty and Majestic. 16 — ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib [a later narrator of that name] narrated to us: al-Raffāʾ informed us: Mubashshir ibn Mūsā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr [al-Ḥumaydī] narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār narrated to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Aws informed me that he heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr (may Allah be pleased with him) say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The just will be upon pulpits of light on the right of the Most Merciful, Mighty and Majestic — and both His hands are right.”
al-Harawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd pp. 60–61, no. 16
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- (١٦) بَابُ إِثْبَاتِ الْجِهَاتِ لِلَّهِ ﷿
١٦ - حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالب أنبا الرفا ثَنَا مُبشر بْنُ
مُوسَى ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ ثَنَا سُفْيَانُ ثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ أَوْسٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ عَبْدَ اللهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ﵁ يَقُولُ
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ عَلَى مَنَابِرَ مِنْ نُورٍ عَنْ يَمِينِ الرَّحْمَنِ ﷿ وَكِلْتَا يَدَيْهِ يَمِينٌ
- (١٧) بَابُ إِثْبَاتِ الْوَجْهِ لِلَّهِ ﷿
١٧ - أَخْبَرَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ عَمَّارٍ الْإِمَامُ ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَدِيٍّ ثَنَا حَاتِمُ بْنُ مَحْبُوبٍ ثَنَا عَبْدُ الْجَبَّار ثَنَا سُفْيَان قَالَ سمعناه مِنِ ابْنِ عَجْلَانَ عَنْ عَوْنِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ﵁ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ (مَنْ قَالَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَقَالَ مَرَّةً مَنْ قَالَ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ
Al-Harawī, Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn
Al-Harawī said in Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn:
The second degree: letting the report run according to its apparent sense (ijrāʾ al-khabar ʿalā ẓāhirih): that the reported signs of the tawḥīd of the common believers remain upon their apparent senses — one does not take on probing into them arbitrarily, nor contrive a reinterpretation (taʾwīl) for them, nor go beyond their apparent senses into likening (tamthīl), nor claim a comprehension (idrāk) or conception (tawahhum) of them.
al-Harawī, Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn p. 40. Commentary: Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn 2/337
Source, chain and authenticity
Context: this is the second of three degrees of the station of veneration (taʿẓīm) in a Sufi manual of spiritual stations. 'The tawḥīd of the common folk' is al-Harawī's own technical term for the first of his three levels of tawḥīd.
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لَا خوفًا من الْعقُوبَة فَيكون خُصُومَة للنَّفس
وَلَا طلبا لمثوبة فَيكون مسترقا للأجرة
وَلَا شَاهدا للْجدّ فَيكون متدينا بالمراياة
فَإِن هَذِه الْأَوْصَاف كلهَا شعب من عبَادَة النَّفس
والدرجة الثَّانِيَة إِجْرَاء الْخَبَر على ظَاهره وَهُوَ أَن يبْقى أَعْلَام تَوْحِيد الْعَامَّة الخبرية على ظواهرها لَا يتَحَمَّل الْبَحْث عَنْهَا تعسفا وَلَا يتَكَلَّف لَهَا تَأْوِيلا وَلَا يتَجَاوَز ظواهرها تمثيلا وَلَا يَدعِي عَلَيْهَا إدراكا أَو توهما
والدرجة الثَّالِثَة صِيَانة الانبساط أَن تشوبه جرْأَة وصيانة السرُور أَن يداخله أَمن وصيانة الشُّهُود أَن يُعَارضهُ سَبَب
بَاب الْإِخْلَاص
قَالَ الله ﷿ أَلا لله الدّين الْخَالِص
الْإِخْلَاص تصفية الْعَمَل من كل شوب
وَهُوَ على ثَلَاث دَرَجَات
Al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww
Al-Dhahabī said in al-ʿUluww:
وَكَذَا عبارَة شيخ الْإِسْلَام أبي إِسْمَاعِيل الْأنْصَارِيّ فَإِنَّهُ قَالَ وَفِي أَخْبَار شَتَّى أَن الله فِي السَّمَاء السَّابِعَة على الْعَرْش بِنَفسِهِ
Likewise Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr used it [the expression 'bi-dhātih'] without qualification, as will come; and likewise the expression of Shaykh al-Islām Abū Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī, for he said: 'In many reports [it has come] that Allah is in the seventh heaven, upon the Throne, by Himself (bi-nafsih).'
al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww p. 236; Mukhtaṣar al-ʿUluww p. 255
Source, chain and authenticity
Context on the same page: al-Dhahabī discusses Ibn Abī Zayd's 'upon His Throne by His Essence (bi-dhātih)', which Ibn Abī Zayd's critics objected to, and lists others who used the same qualifier: al-Sijzī, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Anṣārī, al-Karajī.
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وَكَذَلِكَ أطلقها ابْن عبد الْبر كَمَا سَيَأْتِي
وَكَذَا عبارَة شيخ الْإِسْلَام أبي إِسْمَاعِيل الْأنْصَارِيّ فَإِنَّهُ قَالَ وَفِي أَخْبَار شَتَّى أَن الله فِي السَّمَاء السَّابِعَة على الْعَرْش بِنَفسِهِ وَكَذَا قَالَ أَبُو الْحسن الكرجي الشَّافِعِي فِي تِلْكَ القصيدة
(عقائدهم أَن الْإِلَه بِذَاتِهِ ... على عَرْشه مَعَ علمه بالغوائب)
وعَلى هَذِه القصيدة مَكْتُوب بِخَط الْعَلامَة تَقِيّ الدّين بن الصّلاح هَذِه عقيدة أهل السّنة وَأَصْحَاب الحَدِيث
وَكَذَا أطلق هَذِه اللَّفْظَة أَحْمد بن ثَابت الطرقي الْحَافِظ وَالشَّيْخ عبد الْقَادِر الجيلي والمفتي عبد الْعَزِيز القحيطي وَطَائِفَة
وَالله تَعَالَى خَالق كل شَيْء بِذَاتِهِ ومدبر الْخَلَائق بِذَاتِهِ بِلَا معِين وَلَا مؤازر
وَإِنَّمَا أَرَادَ ابْن أبي زيد وَغَيره التَّفْرِقَة بَين كَونه تَعَالَى مَعنا وَبَين كَونه تَعَالَى فَوق الْعَرْش فَهُوَ كَمَا قَالَ ومعنا بِالْعلمِ وَأَنه على الْعَرْش كَمَا أعلمنَا حَيْثُ يَقُول ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْش اسْتَوَى﴾ وَقد تلفظ بِالْكَلِمَةِ الْمَذْكُورَة جمَاعَة من الْعلمَاء كَمَا قدمْنَاهُ وَبلا ريب أَن فضول الْكَلَام تَركه من حسن الْإِسْلَام
وَكَانَ ابْن أبي زيد من الْعلمَاء العاملين بالمغرب وَكَانَ يلقب ب مَالك الصَّغِير وَكَانَ غَايَة فِي علم الْأُصُول
وَقد ذكره الْحَافِظ ابْن عَسَاكِر فِي كتاب تَبْيِين كذب المفتري فِيمَا نسب إِلَى الْأَشْعَرِيّ وَلم يذكر لَهُ وَفَاة
توفّي سنة سِتّ وَثَمَانِينَ وثلاثمائة وَقبل سنة تسع وَثَمَانِينَ وثلاثمائة وَقد نقموا عَلَيْهِ فِي قَوْله بِذَاتِهِ فليته تَركهَا
الْخطابِيّ
٥٥٧ - قَالَ الإِمَام الْعَلامَة أَبُو سُلَيْمَان حمد بن مُحَمَّد بن إِبْرَاهِيم بن خطاب الْخطابِيّ البستي صَاحب معالم السّنَن فِي كتاب الغنية عَن الْكَلَام وَأَهله لَهُ قَالَ فَأَما مَا سَأَلت عَنهُ من الْكَلَام فِي الصِّفَات وَمَا جَاءَ مِنْهَا فِي الْكتاب وَالسّنَن الصَّحِيحَة فَإِن مَذْهَب السّلف إِثْبَاتهَا وإجراؤها على ظَاهرهَا وَنفي الْكَيْفِيَّة والتشبيه عَنْهَا // وَكَذَا نقل الِاتِّفَاق عَن السّلف فِي هَذَا الْحَافِظ أَبُو بكر الْخَطِيب ثمَّ الْحَافِظ أَبُو الْقَاسِم التَّيْمِيّ الْأَصْبَهَانِيّ وَغَيرهم
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, al-Iʿtiqād
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā said in al-Iʿtiqād:
وقال ابن الحارث: " نعم يقعد محمدا على العرش" وقال عبد الله بن أحمد: "وأنا منكر على كل من رد هذا الحديث". وعن ابن عباس (٥) في قوله: ﴿مَقَاماً مَحْمُوداً﴾ قال: "يقعده على العرش " (٦) . روى هذه الأخبار شيخنا أبو بكر المروزي وصنف في ذلك كتابا كبيراً. ورواه والدي- ﵀ عنه فيما أجازه لنا بإسناده عن ابن عمر
… from Mujāhid, on His saying 'It may be that your Lord will raise you to a praised station' [17:79]: he said: 'He will seat him with Himself upon the Throne.' Ibn ʿUmayr said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, when asked about the hadith of Mujāhid 'He will seat Muḥammad upon the Throne', say: 'The scholars have received it with acceptance; we accept this report as it came.' Ibn al-Ḥārith said: 'Yes, He will seat Muḥammad upon the Throne.' ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said: 'And I disapprove of everyone who rejects this hadith.' And from Ibn ʿAbbās, on 'a praised station': 'He will seat him upon the Throne.' Our shaykh Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated these reports and wrote a large book on it; my father (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it from him, among what he licensed to us, with his chain from Ibn ʿUmar …
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, al-Iʿtiqād p. 39
Source, chain and authenticity
(2) 'Allah sits on the Throne' — the page shown is about the seating of the Prophet ﷺ. Also: these are the words of the creed Ibn Abī Yaʿlā transmits (via al-Iṣṭakhrī from Aḥmad), not Ibn Abī Yaʿlā's own composition.
Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah (Ed. al-ʿUthaymīn)
It is recorded:
وَللهِ ﷿ عَرْشٌ، ولِلْعَرْشِ حَمَلَةٌ يَحْمِلُونَهُ، واللهُ ﷿ على عَرْشِهِ، لَيْسَ لَهُ (¬٦) حَدٌّ، واللهُ أَعلمُ بحَدِّهِ. واللهُ ﷿ سَمِيْعٌ لا يَشُكُّ، بَصِيْرٌ لا يَرْتَابُ، عليمٌ لا يَجْهَلُ، جَوَادٌ لَا يَبْخَلُ، حَليْمٌ لا يَعْجَلُ، حَفِيْظٌ لا يَنْسَى، يَقْظَانٌ لا يَسْهُو، قَرِيْبٌ لا يَغْفَلُ، يَتَحَرَّكُ، ويَتَكَلَّمُ
… because Allah, Exalted is He, is upon the Throne above the highest seventh heaven, and knows all of that, and He is separate from His creation; no place is devoid of His knowledge. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has a Throne, and the Throne has bearers who carry it; and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is upon His Throne; He has no ḥadd (laysa lahu ḥadd), and Allah best knows His ḥadd. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is All-Hearing without doubt, All-Seeing without uncertainty, All-Knowing without ignorance, Generous without miserliness, Forbearing without haste, Preserving without forgetting, Wakeful without heedlessness, Near without unawareness; He moves (yataḥarraku) and speaks …
Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah (ed. al-ʿUthaymīn) 1/61
Source, chain and authenticity
TEXTUAL VARIANT, decisive for the ḥadd chapter: this transmission reads 'laysa lahu ḥadd' (editor's fn. 6: 'lahu' is missing in (ṭ) [al-Fiqī's print]); Ḥarb's Ijmāʿ al-Salaf reads 'wa-lahu ḥadd, Allāhu aʿlamu bi-ḥaddih'. The second clause ('Allah best knows His ḥadd') presupposes a ḥadd known to Allah, so the negation, if original, is of a ḥadd known to creatures — exactly Abū Yaʿlā's and Ibn Taymiyyah's reading of Aḥmad's 'bi-lā ḥadd' . Report both readings; do not cite this page as an affirmation. 'qarīb lā yaghfal' here vs. 'raqīb lā yaghfal' in Ḥarb .
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فَإِنْ احتَجَّ مُبْتَدِعٌ ومُخَالِفٌ بقَولِ اللهِ ﷿ (¬٢): ﴿وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ (١٦)﴾ وبِقَوْلهِ (¬٣): ﴿وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ﴾ وبقَوْلهِ (¬٤): ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ (٦) إلى قَوْلهِ: ﴿هُوَ مَعَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كَانُوا﴾ (¬٥) ونحْوَ هَذَا مِنْ مُتَشَابِهِ القُرْآنِ، فَقُلْ: إِنَّمَا يَعْنِي بِذلك العَلمَ؛ لِأَنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى عَلى العَرْشِ فَوْقَ السَّمَاءِ السَّابِعَةِ العُلْيَا ويَعْلَمُ ذلِكَ كلُّه، وهو بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، لَا يَخْلُو مِن عِلْمِهِ مَكَانٌ.
وَللهِ ﷿ عَرْشٌ، ولِلْعَرْشِ حَمَلَةٌ يَحْمِلُونَهُ، واللهُ ﷿ على عَرْشِهِ، لَيْسَ لَهُ (¬٦) حَدٌّ، واللهُ أَعلمُ بحَدِّهِ. واللهُ ﷿ سَمِيْعٌ لا يَشُكُّ، بَصِيْرٌ لا يَرْتَابُ، عليمٌ لا يَجْهَلُ، جَوَادٌ لَا يَبْخَلُ، حَليْمٌ لا يَعْجَلُ، حَفِيْظٌ لا يَنْسَى، يَقْظَانٌ لا يَسْهُو، قَرِيْبٌ لا يَغْفَلُ، يَتَحَرَّكُ، ويَتَكَلَّمُ،
Al-Dhahabī said in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ:
This epistle — its chain is like the sun; so look at this luminous breath. Not like the Epistle of al-Iṣṭakhrī, nor like al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah that is fabricated in the name of Abū ʿAbd Allāh; for the man was God-fearing and scrupulous, and would not utter the like of that — and perhaps he said it. Likewise the epistle on the one who prays badly is false. What is established from him in principles and branches is sufficient.
al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 9/259 (Dār al-Ḥadīth ed.); = Risālah ed. 11/286, at the end of Aḥmad's letter to al-Mutawakkil on the Qurʾān
Source, chain and authenticity
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قال أبي وإنما تركت الأسانيد لما تقدم من اليمين التي حلفت بها مما قد علمه أمير المؤمنين ولولا ذاك ذكرتها باسانيدها وقد قال الله تعالى: "وإن أحد من المشركين استجارك فأجره حتى يسمع كلام الله" التوبة: ٦، وقال "ألا له الخلق والأمر" الأعراف: ٥٤، فأخبر إن الأمر غير الخلق وقال "الرحمن علم القرآن خلق الإنسان علمه البيان" الرحمن: ١ - ٤، فأخبر إن القرآن من علمه وقال تعالى "ولن ترضى عنك اليهود ولا النصارى حتى تتبع ملتهم قل إن هدى الله هو الهدى ولئن اتبعت اهواءهم بعد الذي جاءك من العلم ما لك من الله من ولي ولا نصير" البقرة: ١٢٠، وقال "ولئن أتيت الذين أوتوا الكتاب بكل آية ما تبعوا قبلتك" البقرة: ١٤٥، وإلى قوله "ولئن اتبعت أهواءهم من بعد ما جاءك من العلم إنك إذاً لمن الظالمين" البقرة: ١٤٥، فالقرآن من علم الله وفي الآيات دليل على إن الذي جاءه هو القرآن وقد روى عن السلف أنهم كانوا يقولون القرآن كلام الله غير مخلوق وهو الذي أذهب إليه لست بصاحب كلام ولا أرى الكلام في شيء من هذا إلا ما كان عن كتاب الله أو حديث عن النبي ﷺ أو عن أصحابه أو عن التابعين فأما غير ذلك فإن الكلام فيه غير محمود.
فهذه الرسالة إسنادها كالشمس فانظر إلى هذا النفس النوراني لا كرسالة الإصطخري ولا كالرد على الجهمية الموضوع على أبي عبد الله فإن الرجل كان تقياً ورعاً لا يتفوه بمثل ذلك ولعله قاله وكذلك رسالة المسيء في الصلاة باطلة وما ثبت عنه اصلاً وفرعاً ففيه كفاية.
ومما ثبت عنه مسألة الإيمان وقد صنف فيها.
قال أبو داود سمعت أحمد بن حنبل يقول الإيمان قول وعمل يزيد وينقص البر كله من الإيمان والمعاصي تنقص الإيمان.
وقال إسحاق بن إبراهيم البغوي سمعت أحمد يقول من قال القرآن مخلوق فهو كافر وسمع سلمة بن شبيب أحمد يقول ذلك وهذا متواتر عنه.
وقال أبو إسماعيل الترمذي سمعت أحمد بن حنبل يقول من قال القرآن محدث فهو كافر.
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, Ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā said in Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn:
The people of hadith — the Ashʿarīs among them — have agreed upon accepting these hadiths: some of them passed them on as they came, namely the people of hadith (aṣḥāb al-ḥadīth), and some of them interpreted them, namely the Ashʿarīs; and their interpreting them is an acceptance of them on their part, since had they been false in their view they would have discarded them as they discarded all other false reports. It has been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: “My Ummah will not agree upon an error or upon misguidance.” What we have mentioned — belief in the reports of the attributes without taʿṭīl, without tashbīh, without tafsīr and without taʾwīl — is the position of the Salaf from first to last, and it is what the Commander of the Faithful al-Qādir (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned in al-Risālah al-Qādiriyyah, in which he said: “Whatever Allah, Glorified is He, described Himself with, or His Messenger ﷺ described Him with, is an attribute of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in its reality (ʿalā ḥaqīqatih), not by way of metaphor (lā ʿalā sabīl al-majāz).”
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn, 3/391; same text in the al-Fiqī edition 2/210
Source, chain and authenticity
Editor's variants: (ṭ) reads 'ʿulamāʾ ahl…' for 'ahl'; (ṭ) 'aqarrahā' for 'amarrahā'. Editor refers the 'lā tajtamiʿ ummatī' hadith to Ibn Ḥajar, al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr 3/141.
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وَقَدْ أَجْمَعَ أَهْلُ (¬٢) الحَدِيْثِ - والأشْعَرِيَّةُ مِنْهِم - على قَبُولِ هَذِهِ الأحَادِيْثِ، فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَمرَّهَا (¬٣) عَلَى مَا جَاءَتْ وهم أَصْحَابُ الحَدِيْثِ، ومِنْهُم مَنْ تَأَوَّلَهَا، وهُم الأشْعَرِيَّةُ، وتَأْوِيْلِهِمْ إِيَّاهَا قَبُوْلٌ مِنْهُم لَهَا، إِذْ لَوْ كَانَتْ عندَهم بَاطِلةً لاطَّرَحُوْهَا، كَمَا اطَّرَحُوا سَائرَ الأخْبَارِ البَاطِلَةِ، وقد رُوِيَ عن النَّبِي ﷺ أَنَّه قَالَ (¬٤): "أُمَّتِي لَا تَجْتَمعُ عَلَى خَطَأٍ ولَا ضَلالَةٍ". ومَا ذَكَرْنَاه من الإيْمَانِ بأَخْبَارِ الصِّفَاتِ من غَيْرِ تَعْطِيْلٍ، ولا تَشْبيْهٍ ولا تَفْسِيْرٍ وَلا تَأْوِيْلٍ هو قولُ السَّلَفِ بَدْءًا وعَوْدًا، وهو الَّذِي ذَكَرَهُ أَمِيْرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ القَادِرُ - رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِ - في "الرِّسَالَةِ القَادِرِيَّة" قَالَ فِيْهَا: "وَمَا وَصَفَ اللهُ - سُبْحَانَهُ - بِهِ نَفْسَهُ، أَوَ وَصَفَهُ بِهِ رَسُوْلُ الله ﷺ: فهو صِفَاتُ اللهِ ﷿ علَى حَقِيْقَتِهِ، لَا عَلَى سَبِيْلِ المَجَازِ". وعَلَى هَذَا الاعتِقَادُ جَمَعَ أَمْيِرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ القَائِمُ بَأَمْرِ اللهِ - رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عليه - مَنْ حَضَرَهُ مَعَ الوَالِدِ السَّعِيْدِ من عُلَمَاءِ الوَقْتِ، وزَاهِدُهُمْ أَبُو الحَسَنِ القَزْوِيْنِيُّ سنةَ اثْنَتَيْن
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, Ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in Local
Ibn al-Zāghūnī said in al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in local:
—
(١) من هنا موجود في (ط).
(٢) اختلف المتكلمون في نسبة الحد إلى الله تعالى: فنفاه الأشا[عرة] … الله تعالى واستواؤه على العرش. وأئمة السلف على إثبا[ت] … والدارمي وابن المبارك وغيرهم. قال الدارمي: والله تعالى له [حد لا يعلمه أحد غيره، ولا يجوز لأحد أن] يتوهم لحده غاية في نفسه ولكن نؤمن بالحد ونكل علم ذلك [إلى الله] … وقد اتفقت كلمة المسلمين والكافرين [على أن الله في السماء …] الجهمية فكل أحد أعلم بالله وبمكانه من الجهمية. وقال الـ[قاضي أبو يعلى …] تعالى محمول على معنيين: أحدهما: على معنى أنه تعالى [في جهة مخصوصة وليس هو ذاهباً في] الجهات الستة بل هو خارج العالم متميز عن خلقه منفصل [عنهم … والثاني:] أنه على صفة يبين بها من غيره ويتميز ولهذا يسمى البواب [حداداً] … راجع الدارمي: رد الدارمي على المريسي: (ص ٢٦، ٢٧) … (١/ ٤٣٦، ٤٣٧).
So we say: Know that the decisive proof has shown the existence of the Creator and His being established as an Essence in the full reality of affirmation; and that He cannot touch creatures, nor can creatures touch Him; and that there must be a separation (faṣl) between Him and His creation which precludes the possibility of His touching bodies and atoms and which entails His being by Himself (infirāduhu bi-nafsih). And this very thing is the ḥadd and the end (nihāyah). Those inexperienced people who have no expertise are deceived only by the difficulty of ascribing ḥadd, extremity and end to Him, Exalted is He, while they acknowledge that He does not touch creation nor does it touch Him, and that He is distinct by His Essence, by Himself, separate from His creation, exalted above contact and mixing — and this is a contradiction on their part in creed… [Editor's footnote (2): The theologians differed over ascribing ḥadd to Allah: the Ashʿarīs negated it… The imams of the Salaf affirmed… al-Dārimī, Ibn al-Mubārak and others. Al-Dārimī said: Allah has a ḥadd that none knows but He, and no one may imagine an extremity of His ḥadd in himself; rather we believe in the ḥadd and entrust its knowledge to Allah… The word of Muslims and disbelievers has agreed… so everyone knows Allah and His place better than the Jahmiyyah. And al-Qāḍī [Abū Yaʿlā] said … it is understood in two senses … See al-Dārimī, al-Radd ʿalā al-Marīsī pp. 26–27; … 1/436–437.]
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in local
Source, chain and authenticity
Footnote (1) 'from here it is present in (ṭ)' marks a manuscript boundary at 'al-ḥadd'.
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, Ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd
Ibn al-Zāghūnī said in al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd:
—
(١) سقطت من (ط). (٢) في (ط) بإضافة الباري. (٣) سقطت من (ط).
… [words covered by the creator's label] … [whether] by it is meant place and direction, or subjugation and dominance (as we have explained). It is impossible that by His saying “Then He rose over the Throne” subjugation and dominance be meant, because the one overpowered is something mighty in itself and hard to resist, whereas the Throne — in relation to the Creator, exalted is His power — has no dominance and no strength, for it is His making and His product; so ascribing dominance and subjugation to it is far-fetched. Thus it remains that He meant by it direction and place, nothing else. [Editor's notes: (1) dropped in MS (ṭ); (2) in (ṭ): 'bi-iḍāfat al-Bārī'; (3) dropped in (ṭ).]
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd, p. 334
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī said in al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād:
ومنكر أن يكون الله في جهة العلو بعد هذه الآيات والأحاديث مخالف لكتاب الله، منكر لسنة رسول الله.
١١ ـ وقال مالك بن أنس: الله في السماء، وعلمه في كل مكان لا يخلو من علمه مكان
On this question there are proofs from the Book and the Sunnah whose mention would lengthen the book. Whoever denies that Allah is in the direction of highness (fī jihat al-ʿuluww) after these verses and hadiths is opposing the Book of Allah and denying the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. 11 — Mālik ibn Anas said: Allah is in the heaven, and His knowledge is in every place; no place is devoid of His knowledge.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād p. 94
Source, chain and authenticity
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād
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
This is ʿAbd al-Ghanī's own statement in his creed, matching the words his opponents attacked and Ibn Rajab defended .
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
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
PRECISION: the word makān here is the OPPONENTS' inference ('then you have affirmed a place for Him'), reported by Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī, whom al-Dhahabī elsewhere criticises for unreliability in what he reports . ʿAbd al-Ghanī's own reported words are: 'I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent' and 'Allah was when there was no place, and He is not today as He was'.
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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.
Ibn Qudāmah, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād
Ibn Qudāmah said in Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād:
ومن السنة، قول النبي ﷺ: «ينزل ربنا ﵎ كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا» (١) وقوله: «يعجب ربك من الشاب ليست له صبوة» (٢) وقوله: «يضحك الله إلى رجلين قتل أحدهما الآخر ثم يدخلان الجنة» (٣) فهذا وما أشبهه مما صح سنده وعدلت رواته، نؤمن به، ولا نرده ولا نجحده ولا نتأوله بتأويل يخالف
ظاهره، ولا نشبهه بصفات المخلوقين، ولا بسمات المحدثين، ونعلم أن الله ﷾ لا شبيه له ولا نظير ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١] وكل ما تخيل في الذهن أو خطر بالبال فإن الله تعالى بخلافه.
Among the verses of the attributes is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “And there will remain the Face of your Lord” [al-Raḥmān 55:27]; His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: “Rather, both His hands are outstretched” [al-Māʾidah 5:64]; His saying, informing about ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) that he said: “You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself” [5:116]; His saying, Glorified is He: “And your Lord comes” [al-Fajr 89:22]; His saying: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them” [al-Baqarah 2:210]; His saying: “Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him” [5:119]; His saying: “He loves them and they love Him” [5:54]; His saying about the disbelievers: “And Allah is angry with them” [al-Fatḥ 48:6]; His saying: “They followed what angered Allah” [Muḥammad 47:28]; His saying: “Allah disliked their being sent forth” [al-Tawbah 9:46]. And from the Sunnah: the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: “Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven”; his saying: “Your Lord marvels at a youth who has no youthful inclination”; and his saying: “Allah laughs at two men, one of whom kills the other, and both enter Paradise.” This and whatever resembles it, of what has an authentic chain and trustworthy narrators, we believe in; we do not reject it, nor deny it, nor interpret it with an interpretation that contradicts its apparent sense (ẓāhir), nor liken it to the attributes of creatures or the marks of originated things. We know that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has no likeness and no equal: “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” [al-Shūrā 42:11]; and everything imagined in the mind or occurring to thought, Allah, Exalted is He, is other than it.
Ibn Qudāmah, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād pp. 10–11
Source, chain and authenticity
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[ذكر بعض الآيات والأحاديث الواردة في الصفات]
فمما جاء من آيات الصفات قول الله ﷿: ﴿وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ﴾ [الرحمن: ٢٧] وقوله ﷾: ﴿بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ﴾ [المائدة: ٦٤] وقوله تعالى إخبارا عن عيسى ﵇ أنه قال: ﴿تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ﴾ [المائدة: ١١٦] وقوله سبحانه: ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ﴾ [الفجر: ٢٢] وقوله تعالى: ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠] وقوله تعالى: ﴿رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ﴾ [المائدة: ١١٩] وقوله تعالى: ﴿يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ﴾ [المائدة: ٥٤] وقوله تعالى في الكفار: ﴿وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ﴾ [الفتح: ٦] وقوله تعالى: ﴿اتَّبَعُوا مَا أَسْخَطَ اللَّهَ﴾ [محمد: ٢٨] وقوله تعالى: ﴿كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ﴾ [التوبة: ٤٦]
ومن السنة، قول النبي ﷺ: «ينزل ربنا ﵎ كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا» (١) وقوله: «يعجب ربك من الشاب ليست له صبوة» (٢) وقوله: «يضحك الله إلى رجلين قتل أحدهما الآخر ثم يدخلان الجنة» (٣) فهذا وما أشبهه مما صح سنده وعدلت رواته، نؤمن به، ولا نرده ولا نجحده ولا نتأوله بتأويل يخالف
ظاهره، ولا نشبهه بصفات المخلوقين، ولا بسمات المحدثين، ونعلم أن الله ﷾ لا شبيه له ولا نظير ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١] وكل ما تخيل في الذهن أو خطر بالبال فإن الله تعالى بخلافه.
ومن ذلك قوله تعالى: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ [طه: ٥] وقوله تعالى: ﴿أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾ [الملك: ١٦] وقول النبي ﷺ: «ربنا الله الذي في السماء تقدس اسمك» (١) «وقال للجارية: أين الله؟ قالت: في السماء. قال: أعتقها فإنها مؤمنة» رواه مسلم، ومالك بن أنس، وغيرهما من الأئمة. وقال النبي ﷺ لحصين: «كم إلها تعبد؟ قال سبعة، ستة في الأرض وواحدا في السماء. قال من لرغبتك ورهبتك؟ قال الذي في السماء، قال فاترك الستة واعبد الذي في السماء،
Ibn Qudāmah, Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97
Ibn Qudāmah said in Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97:
٩٤ - قُلْنَا نَحن لم نتأول شَيْئا وَحمل هَذِه اللفظات على هَذِه الْمعَانِي لَيْسَ بِتَأْوِيل لِأَن التَّأْوِيل صرف اللَّفْظ عَن ظَاهره وَهَذِه الْمعَانِي هِيَ الظَّاهِر من هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ بِدَلِيل أَنه الْمُتَبَادر إِلَى الأفهام مِنْهَا
٩٥ - وَظَاهر اللَّفْظ هُوَ مَا يسْبق إِلَى الْفَهم مِنْهُ حَقِيقَة كَانَ أَو مجَازًا وَلذَلِك كَانَ ظَاهر الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة كاسم الراوية والظعينة وَغَيرهمَا من الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة فَإِن ظَاهر هَذَا الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة وصرفها إِلَى الْحَقِيقَة يكون تَأْوِيلا يحْتَاج إِلَى دَلِيل وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَلْفَاظ الَّتِي لَهَا عرف شَرْعِي وَحَقِيقَة لغوية كَالْوضُوءِ وَالطَّهَارَة وَالصَّلَاة وَالصَّوْم وَالزَّكَاة وَالْحج إِنَّمَا ظَاهرهَا الْعرف الشَّرْعِيّ دون الْحَقِيقَة اللُّغَوِيَّة
٩٦ - وَإِذا تقرر هَذَا فالمتبادر إِلَى الْفَهم من قَوْلهم الله مَعَك أَي بِالْحِفْظِ والكلاءة وَلذَلِك قَالَ الله تَعَالَى فِيمَا أخبر عَن نبيه ﴿إِذْ يَقُول لصَاحبه لَا تحزن إِن الله مَعنا﴾ [التَّوْبَة ٤٠] وَقَالَ لمُوسَى ﴿إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أسمع وَأرى﴾ [طه ٤٦] وَلَو أَرَادَ أَنه بِذَاتِهِ مَعَ كل أحد لم يكن لَهُم بذلك اخْتِصَاص لوُجُوده فِي حق غَيرهم كوجوده فيهم وَلم يكن ذَلِك مُوجبا لنفي الْحزن عَن أبي بكر وَلَا عِلّة لَهُ
٩٧ - فَعلم أَن ظَاهر هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ هُوَ مَا حملت عَلَيْهِ فَلم يكن تَأْوِيلا ثمَّ لَو كَانَ تَأْوِيلا فَمَا نَحن تأولنا وَإِنَّمَا السّلف رَحْمَة الله عَلَيْهِم الَّذِي ثَبت صوابهم وَوَجَب اتباعهم هم الَّذين تأولوه
93 — If it is said: “You have yourselves interpreted verses and reports, saying of His saying, ‘And He is with you wherever you are’ [al-Ḥadīd 57:4], i.e. by knowledge, and the like of these verses and reports; so what binds us binds you.” 94 — We say: We have not interpreted anything. Taking these words in these meanings is not taʾwīl, because taʾwīl is diverting a word from its apparent sense (ẓāhir), and these meanings are the apparent sense of these words, as shown by their being what first comes to mind from them. 95 — The apparent sense of a word is what first comes to the understanding from it, whether literal (ḥaqīqah) or figurative (majāz). Hence the apparent sense of customary nouns is the figurative rather than the literal, like the nouns al-rāwiyah and al-ẓaʿīnah and other customary nouns: their apparent sense is the figurative rather than the literal, and turning them to the literal would be a taʾwīl needing proof. Likewise words that have a legal-customary usage and a linguistic literal sense, such as wuḍūʾ, ṭahārah, ṣalāt, ṣawm, zakāt and ḥajj: their apparent sense is the legal usage, not the linguistic literal meaning. 96 — Once this is established: what first comes to the understanding from their saying “Allah is with you” is: by protection and guardianship. That is why Allah said, informing about His Prophet: “When he said to his companion: Do not grieve, Allah is with us” [al-Tawbah 9:40], and He said to Moses: “I am with you both, I hear and I see” [Ṭā Hā 20:46]. Had He meant that He is with everyone by His Essence, they would have had no special distinction in it, since it would hold for others as it holds for them, and it would not have necessitated removing grief from Abū Bakr, nor been a reason for it. 97 — So it is known that the apparent sense of these words is what they were taken to mean; hence it was not taʾwīl. Then, even if it were taʾwīl, we did not interpret it; rather the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them), whose correctness is established and whom it is obligatory to follow, are the ones who interpreted it.
Ibn Qudāmah, Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97, p. 45
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٩٤ - قُلْنَا نَحن لم نتأول شَيْئا وَحمل هَذِه اللفظات على هَذِه الْمعَانِي لَيْسَ بِتَأْوِيل لِأَن التَّأْوِيل صرف اللَّفْظ عَن ظَاهره وَهَذِه الْمعَانِي هِيَ الظَّاهِر من هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ بِدَلِيل أَنه الْمُتَبَادر إِلَى الأفهام مِنْهَا
٩٥ - وَظَاهر اللَّفْظ هُوَ مَا يسْبق إِلَى الْفَهم مِنْهُ حَقِيقَة كَانَ أَو مجَازًا وَلذَلِك كَانَ ظَاهر الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة كاسم الراوية والظعينة وَغَيرهمَا من الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة فَإِن ظَاهر هَذَا الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة وصرفها إِلَى الْحَقِيقَة يكون تَأْوِيلا يحْتَاج إِلَى دَلِيل وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَلْفَاظ الَّتِي لَهَا عرف شَرْعِي وَحَقِيقَة لغوية كَالْوضُوءِ وَالطَّهَارَة وَالصَّلَاة وَالصَّوْم وَالزَّكَاة وَالْحج إِنَّمَا ظَاهرهَا الْعرف الشَّرْعِيّ دون الْحَقِيقَة اللُّغَوِيَّة
٩٦ - وَإِذا تقرر هَذَا فالمتبادر إِلَى الْفَهم من قَوْلهم الله مَعَك أَي بِالْحِفْظِ والكلاءة وَلذَلِك قَالَ الله تَعَالَى فِيمَا أخبر عَن نبيه ﴿إِذْ يَقُول لصَاحبه لَا تحزن إِن الله مَعنا﴾ [التَّوْبَة ٤٠] وَقَالَ لمُوسَى ﴿إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أسمع وَأرى﴾ [طه ٤٦] وَلَو أَرَادَ أَنه بِذَاتِهِ مَعَ كل أحد لم يكن لَهُم بذلك اخْتِصَاص لوُجُوده فِي حق غَيرهم كوجوده فيهم وَلم يكن ذَلِك مُوجبا لنفي الْحزن عَن أبي بكر وَلَا عِلّة لَهُ
٩٧ - فَعلم أَن ظَاهر هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ هُوَ مَا حملت عَلَيْهِ فَلم يكن تَأْوِيلا ثمَّ لَو كَانَ تَأْوِيلا فَمَا نَحن تأولنا وَإِنَّمَا السّلف رَحْمَة الله عَلَيْهِم الَّذِي ثَبت صوابهم وَوَجَب اتباعهم هم الَّذين تأولوه فَإِن ابْن عَبَّاس وَالضَّحَّاك ومالكا وسُفْيَان وَكَثِيرًا من الْعلمَاء قَالُوا فِي قَوْله ﴿وَهُوَ مَعكُمْ﴾ أَي علمه ثمَّ قد ثَبت
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
And He informed about Pharaoh that he said: “O Hāmān, build for me a tower that I may reach the ways — the ways of the heavens — and look upon the God of Moses; and indeed I think him a liar” [Ghāfir 40:36–37], meaning: I think Moses a liar (in [saying] that Allah, his God, is in the heaven). The one who opposes [us] in this question (has denied this), claiming that Moses lied in this, by way of (certainty) and conviction — in opposition to the Lord of the worlds, charging His truthful, trustworthy Prophet with error, and abandoning the way of the Companions, the Successors, the earlier imams and all of creation. We ask Allah, Exalted is He, to protect us from innovations by His mercy, and grant us success in following His Sunnah.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww p. 65
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Words in parentheses are the editor's insertions/variants (marked in the edition with footnotes 8–11).
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Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
Allah, Exalted is He, described Himself with highness (ʿuluww) in the heaven; Muḥammad, the Seal of the Prophets, described Him with that; all the scholars — the God-fearing Companions and the imams among the jurists — agreed upon it; the reports of it have reached the degree of mass-transmission (tawātur) in a way that yields certainty; Allah, Exalted is He, united the hearts of the Muslims upon it and made it ingrained in the nature of all creation: you see them, when distress befalls them, glancing at the heaven with their eyes, raising their hands towards it in supplication, awaiting relief from their Lord, and saying so with their tongues. None denies that except an innovator extreme in his innovation, or one led astray by (blind imitation) and following him upon his misguidance. In this treatise I mention some of the reports that have reached me on this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his Companions and the imams who (followed) his Sunnah, in a way that yields decisive certainty of its authenticity from them, and shows the mass-transmission of the narration of it from them, so that the believers who come upon it increase in faith, and the one to whom it was hidden is alerted, until it becomes as though he saw it with his own eyes, and so that it becomes a proof and demonstration for the one holding fast to the Sunnah.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww p. 63, introduction
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This introduction is the same one Ibn al-Qayyim quotes in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh when attributing 'Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww' to Ibn Qudāmah .
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(رب يسر وأعن بمنك ورحمتك) (١)
﷽
الحمد لله الذي علا في سمائه، وجلا باليقين قلوب أوليائه، وخار لهم في قدره وبارك لهم في قضائه، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، شهادة مؤمن بلقائه، وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله وخاتم أنبيائه. أما بعد:
فإن الله تعالى وصف نفسه بالعلو في السماء، ووصفه بذلك محمد خاتم الأنبياء، وأجمع على ذلك جميع العلماء من الصحابة الأتقياء والأئمة من الفقهاء، وتوارترت الأخبار بذلك على وجه حصل به اليقين، وجمع الله تعالى عليه قلوب المسلمين، وجعله مغروزا في طباع الخلق أجمعين، فتراهم عند نزول الكرب بهم يلحظون السماء بأعينهم، ويرفعون نحوها للدعاء أيديهم (٢) ، وينتظرون مجيء الفرج من ربهم، وينطقون بذلك بألسنتهم لا ينكر ذلك إلا مبتدع غال في بدعته، أم مفتون (بتقليده) (٣) واتباعه على ضلالته، وأنا ذاكر في الجزء بعض بلغني من الأخبار في ذلك عن رسول الله ﷺ، وصحابته والأئمة (المقتدين) (٤) بسنته على وجه يحصل القطع واليقين بصحة ذلك عنهم، ويعلم تواتر الرواية بوجوده منهم، ليزداد من وقف عليه (٥) من المؤمنين إيمانا وينتبه من خفي عليه ذلك، حتى يصير كالمشاهد له عيانا، ويصير للمتمسك بالسنة حجة وبرهانا.
واعلم -رحمك الله- أنه ليس من شرط صحة التواتر الذي يحصل به اليقين
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
Ibn Qudāmah reported in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
اسْتُخْلِفَ عُمَرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ وَفَدَ الشُّعَرَاءُ إِلَيْهِ، فَأَقَامُوا بِبَابِهِ أَيَّامًا لَا يُؤْذَنُ لَهُمْ، فَبَيْنَمَا هُمْ كَذَلِكَ يَوْمًا وَقَدْ (أَزْمَعُوا الرَّحِيلَ) (١) (مَرَّ بِهِمْ) (٢) بْنُ أَرْطَأَةَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ جَرِيرٌ:
يَا أَيُّهَا (الرَّاكِبُ) (٣) (الْمُزْجِي) (٤) مَطِيَّتَهُ ... هَذَا زَمَانُكَ إِنِّي قد مضى زماني
أَبْلِغْ خَلِيفَتَنَا إِنْ كُنْتَ لاقيه ... (أني لذي) (٥) الْبَابِ كَالْمَصْفُودِ فِي قَرَنِي
لَا تَنْسَ حَاجَتَنَا أَلْفَيْتُ مَغْفِرَةً ... قَدْ طَالَ مُكْثِي عَنْ أَهْلِي وَعَنْ وَطَنِي
قَالَ: فَدَخَلَ عَدِيٌّ عَلَى عُمَرَ فَقَالَ: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، الشُّعَرَاءُ بِبَابِكَ، وسهامهم مسمومة، وأقوالهم نافذة، قَالَ: وَيْحَكَ يا عدي، ما لي وَللشُّعَرَاءُ. قَالَ: أَعَزَّ اللَّهُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَدِ امْتُدِحَ فَأَعْطَى، وَلَكَ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ، فَقَالَ: كَيْفَ؟ قَالَ: امْتَدَحَهُ الْعَبَّاسُ بْنُ مِرْدَاسٍ السُّلَمِيُّ، فَأَعْطَاهُ حُلَّةً قَطَعَ بِهَا لِسَانَهُ. قَالَ: أَوَ تَرْوِي مِنْ قَوْلِهِ شَيْئًا؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، فأنشده:
رأيتك بأخير الْبَرِيَّةِ كُلِّهَا ... نَشَرْتَ كِتَابًا جَاءَ بِالْحَقِّ مُعْلِمَا
شَرَعْتَ لَنَا دِينَ الْهُدَى بَعْدَ جَوْرِنَا ... عَنِ الْحَقِّ لَمَّا أَصْبَحَ الْحَقُّ مُظْلِمَا
وَنَوَّرْتَ بِالْبُرْهَانِ أَمْرًا مُدَلَّسًا ... واطفأت بالبرهان نار تَضَرَّمَا
فَمَنْ بَلَّغَ عَنِّي النَّبِيَّ مُحَمَّدًا ... وَكُلُّ امْرِئٍ يُجْزَى بِمَا كَانَ قَدَّمَا
أَقَمْتَ سَبِيلَ الْحَقِّ بَعْدَ اعْوِجَاجِهِ ... وَكَانَ قَدِيمًا رُكْنُهُ قَدْ تَهَدَّمَا
تَعَالَى عُلُوًّا فَوْقَ (عَرْشِ) (٦) إِلَهِنَا ... وَكَانَ مَكَانُ اللَّهِ أَعْلَى وَأَعْظَمَا
24 — Abū al-Qāsim Yaḥyā ibn Asʿad ibn Bawsh informed us: Abū al-ʿIzz Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Kādish informed us: Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Jāzirī informed us: Abū al-Faraj al-Muʿāfā ibn Zakariyyā al-Jarīrī informed us: Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Anbārī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn al-Marzubān narrated to us: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jawharī narrated to us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk narrated to us: al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī narrated to us from ʿAwānah ibn al-Ḥakam, who said: When ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was made caliph, the poets came to him and stayed at his door for days without being admitted … ʿAdī [ibn Arṭāt] entered upon ʿUmar and said: 'O Commander of the Faithful, the poets are at your door …; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was praised and he gave …' He said: 'How?' He said: 'Al-ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās al-Sulamī praised him and he gave him a robe by which he cut his tongue.' He said: 'Do you narrate anything of his words?' He said: 'Yes,' and recited: 'I saw you, O best of all creation, spreading a Book that came with the truth, clear … Exalted in highness above the Throne is our God, and the place of Allah (makān Allāh) is higher and greater.'
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww pp. 106–107 no. 24; also al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww p. 50 and al-ʿArsh 2/130
Source, chain and authenticity
Weigh it correctly: it is a verse of al-ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās in an akhbār report; the chain runs through al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī (an akhbārī whose reliability must be checked in the rijāl works before the report is relied on) and Abū al-ʿIzz ibn Kādish . Its value is as evidence that 'makān Allāh' was used in early Arabic verse that Ibn Qudāmah and al-Dhahabī cited approvingly; it is not a Companion's or the Prophet's statement. Editor: MS (m) reads 'al-ʿArsh' variant at fn. 6.
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شَهِدْتُ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا ... رَسُولُ الَّذِي فَوْقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ من عل
وأنا أَبَا يَحْيَى وَيَحْيَى كِلَاهُمَا ... لَهُ عَمَلٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ مُتَقَبَّلِ
وَأَنَّ أخا الأحقاف إذا قَامَ فِيهِمُ ... يَقُولُ بِذَاتِ اللَّهِ فِيهِمْ وَيَعْدِلِ (٢)
٢٤ - أَنْبَأَنَا أَبُو الْقَاسِمِ يَحْيَى بْنُ أَسْعَدَ بْنِ بَوْشٍ، أَنْبَأَ أَبُو الْعِزِّ أَحْمَدُ بْنُ (عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ) (٣) بْنِ (كَادِسٍ) (٤) أَنْبَأَ أَبُو عَلِيٍّ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحَسَينِ الْجَازِرِيُّ، أَنْبَأَ أَبُو الْفَرَجِ الْمُعَافَى بْنُ زَكَرِيَّا بْنِ يَحْيَى (الْجَرِيرِيُّ) (٥) ثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْقَاسِمِ الأَنْبَارِيُّ، ثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمَرْزُبَانِ، ثَنَا أَبُو عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ الْجَوْهَرِيُّ، ثَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الضَّحَّاكِ، ثَنَا الْهَيْثَمُ بْنُ عدي بن عَوَانَةَ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ، قَالَ: لَمَّا
اسْتُخْلِفَ عُمَرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ وَفَدَ الشُّعَرَاءُ إِلَيْهِ، فَأَقَامُوا بِبَابِهِ أَيَّامًا لَا يُؤْذَنُ لَهُمْ، فَبَيْنَمَا هُمْ كَذَلِكَ يَوْمًا وَقَدْ (أَزْمَعُوا الرَّحِيلَ) (١) (مَرَّ بِهِمْ) (٢) بْنُ أَرْطَأَةَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ جَرِيرٌ:
يَا أَيُّهَا (الرَّاكِبُ) (٣) (الْمُزْجِي) (٤) مَطِيَّتَهُ ... هَذَا زَمَانُكَ إِنِّي قد مضى زماني
أَبْلِغْ خَلِيفَتَنَا إِنْ كُنْتَ لاقيه ... (أني لذي) (٥) الْبَابِ كَالْمَصْفُودِ فِي قَرَنِي
لَا تَنْسَ حَاجَتَنَا أَلْفَيْتُ مَغْفِرَةً ... قَدْ طَالَ مُكْثِي عَنْ أَهْلِي وَعَنْ وَطَنِي
قَالَ: فَدَخَلَ عَدِيٌّ عَلَى عُمَرَ فَقَالَ: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، الشُّعَرَاءُ بِبَابِكَ، وسهامهم مسمومة، وأقوالهم نافذة، قَالَ: وَيْحَكَ يا عدي، ما لي وَللشُّعَرَاءُ. قَالَ: أَعَزَّ اللَّهُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَدِ امْتُدِحَ فَأَعْطَى، وَلَكَ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ، فَقَالَ: كَيْفَ؟ قَالَ: امْتَدَحَهُ الْعَبَّاسُ بْنُ مِرْدَاسٍ السُّلَمِيُّ، فَأَعْطَاهُ حُلَّةً قَطَعَ بِهَا لِسَانَهُ. قَالَ: أَوَ تَرْوِي مِنْ قَوْلِهِ شَيْئًا؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، فأنشده:
رأيتك بأخير الْبَرِيَّةِ كُلِّهَا ... نَشَرْتَ كِتَابًا جَاءَ بِالْحَقِّ مُعْلِمَا
شَرَعْتَ لَنَا دِينَ الْهُدَى بَعْدَ جَوْرِنَا ... عَنِ الْحَقِّ لَمَّا أَصْبَحَ الْحَقُّ مُظْلِمَا
وَنَوَّرْتَ بِالْبُرْهَانِ أَمْرًا مُدَلَّسًا ... واطفأت بالبرهان نار تَضَرَّمَا
فَمَنْ بَلَّغَ عَنِّي النَّبِيَّ مُحَمَّدًا ... وَكُلُّ امْرِئٍ يُجْزَى بِمَا كَانَ قَدَّمَا
أَقَمْتَ سَبِيلَ الْحَقِّ بَعْدَ اعْوِجَاجِهِ ... وَكَانَ قَدِيمًا رُكْنُهُ قَدْ تَهَدَّمَا
تَعَالَى عُلُوًّا فَوْقَ (عَرْشِ) (٦) إِلَهِنَا ... وَكَانَ مَكَانُ اللَّهِ أَعْلَى وَأَعْظَمَا
ثُمَّ ذَكَرَ بَقِيَّةَ الْخَبَرِ (١) .
٢٥- قُرِئ عَلَى عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مَنْصُورٍ وَأَنَا أَسْمَعُ، أَخْبَرَكُمْ أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ الْمُبَارَكُ ابن عَبْدِ الْجَبَّارِ، أَنْبَأَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْوَاحِدِ، أَنْبَأَ أَبُو بَكْرِ بن شاذان، أبنأ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْمُغَلِّسِ، ثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى الأُمَوِيُّ، (حَدَّثَنِي) (٢) أَبِي، ثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ عَنْ مَعْبَدِ بْنِ كَعْبِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّ سَعْدَ بْنَ مُعَاذٍ لَمَّا حَكَمَ في بني قريضة قَالَ لَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: "لَقَدْ حَكَمْتَ فِيهِمْ حُكْمًا حَكَمَ اللَّهُ بِهِ مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعَةِ أَرْقِعَةٍ (٣) .
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ فَيَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ، مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ" وَقَالَ (١) : هَذَا حَدِيثٌ ثَابِتٌ مِنْ جِهَةِ النَّقْلِ، صَحِيحُ الأَسَانِيدِ، لَا يَخْتَلِفُ أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ فِي صِحَّتِهِ، وَهُوَ مَنْقُولٌ مِنْ طُرُقٍ سِوَى هَذِهِ مِنْ أَخْبَارِ الْعُدُولِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ (٢) ، وَفِيهِ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى فِي السَّمَاءِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ، مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ، كَمَا قَالَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَهُوَ مِنْ حُجَّتِهِمْ عَلَى الْمُعْتَزِلَةِ فِي قَوْلِهِمْ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ، قَالَ: وَالدَّلِيلُ عَلَى صِحَّةِ قَوْلِ أَهْلِ الْحَقِّ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ ﷿: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى
الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾
97 — Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr cited the hadith of Mālik in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, from Ibn Shihāb, from Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Agharr, both from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven when a third of the night remains, and says: Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will ask Me that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?” And he said: This hadith is established in transmission, with authentic chains; the people of hadith do not differ over its authenticity; it is transmitted by other routes besides these, in reports of upright narrators from the Prophet ﷺ. In it is proof that Allah, Exalted is He, is in the heaven, upon the Throne, above seven heavens, as the Jamāʿah said, and it is among their proofs against the Muʿtazilah in their saying that Allah is in every place. He said: And the proof of the correctness of the position of the people of truth is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.”
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww pp. 185–186 no. 97, quoting Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (on the hadith of nuzūl)
Source, chain and authenticity
ATTRIBUTION: the argument 'in it is proof that Allah is in the heaven upon the Throne' is Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's (d. 463, Mālikī), quoted by Ibn Qudāmah.
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٩٧- وَذَكَرَ أَبُو عُمَرَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْبَرِّ حَدِيثَ مَالِكٍ فِي الْمُوَطَّإِ (عَنِ) (٣) ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، وَأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الأَغَرِّ، جَمِيعًا عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ﵁ (٤) أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ: "يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا ﵎ إِلَى
سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ فَيَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ، مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ" وَقَالَ (١) : هَذَا حَدِيثٌ ثَابِتٌ مِنْ جِهَةِ النَّقْلِ، صَحِيحُ الأَسَانِيدِ، لَا يَخْتَلِفُ أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ فِي صِحَّتِهِ، وَهُوَ مَنْقُولٌ مِنْ طُرُقٍ سِوَى هَذِهِ مِنْ أَخْبَارِ الْعُدُولِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ (٢) ، وَفِيهِ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى فِي السَّمَاءِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ، مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ، كَمَا قَالَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَهُوَ مِنْ حُجَّتِهِمْ عَلَى الْمُعْتَزِلَةِ فِي قَوْلِهِمْ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ، قَالَ: وَالدَّلِيلُ عَلَى صِحَّةِ قَوْلِ أَهْلِ الْحَقِّ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ ﷿: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى
الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ (١) ، وَقَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ﴿ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ﴾ (٢) ، وَقُوْلُهُ سُبْحَانَهُ: ﴿أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾ (٣) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ﴾ (٤) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ﴾ (٥) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿يُدَبِّرُ الأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in al-Tamhīd:
And in it is proof that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is in the heaven, upon the Throne, above seven heavens, as the Jamāʿah said; and it is among their proofs against the Muʿtazilah and the Jahmiyyah in their saying that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is in every place and is not upon the Throne.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (Maghribiyyah ed.) 7/129 = ed. Bashshār 5/140, on the ḥadīth of the Descent (Mālik ← al-Zuhrī ← al-Aʿraj and Abū Salama ← Abū Hurayra)
Source, chain and authenticity
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Al-Dashtī, Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (Ed. al-ʿUtaybī and Āl Ḥamdān
Al-Dashtī said in Ithbāt al-Ḥadd:
The fourth section: what has been narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in affirming the sitting. Many ḥadīths have been narrated on it. Some are sound and established, received by Ahl al-Sunnah with acceptance, and used as proof against the Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes. Some are weak, but are taken into account in this chapter, since they have a basis and a supporting witness from other ḥadīths. Among those ḥadīths: 1. The ḥadīth of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, in which is the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: 'And His Kursī is above the heavens and the earth, and He sits upon it.' And in a wording: 'When the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sits upon His Kursī.' [Its takhrīj follows at no. 36.] Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (16/434): '… most of Ahl al-Sunnah accepted it … and it has many established routes to Sufyān, Isrāʾīl and others; and Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Zāghūnī compiled a juzʾ collecting its routes and discussing it in a way that negates deficiency and origination of Allah.'
al-Dashtī, Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (ed. al-ʿUtaybī and Āl Ḥamdān, 2nd ed.), p
Source, chain and authenticity
Why this is the editors' study and not al-Dashtī (d. 665): (1) the passage quotes Ibn Taymiyyah (b. 661, d. 728) from Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā; (2) the cross-reference to 'no. 36' points forward to the numbered texts of the edition; (3) the study begins on p. 7 with the editors' 'This is a fine treatise… composed in the seventh century… published for the first time' and is laid out in Bābs and Mabḥaths (Bāb 2 contents on p. 74). The ḥadīth of ʿUmar itself is graded munkar by al-Albānī (al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 866; see the second passage).
Al-Dārimī said in Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. al-Almaʿī:
[al-Dārimī, chain ending] … from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, who said: A woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “Supplicate to Allah that He admit me to Paradise.” He extolled the Lord and said: “His Kursī encompasses the heavens and the earth, and He sits upon it; nothing of it remains over except the measure of four fingers” — and he stretched out his four fingers — “and it has a creaking like the creaking of a new saddle when one who weighs it down rides it.”
al-Dārimī, Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. al-Almaʿī, 1/426 — a primary source of the report; also al-Ḍiyāʾ, al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtārah 1/263–264
Source, chain and authenticity
GRADING FOUND: al-Albānī, al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah 2/256, no. 866: 'Munkar' . On the same page al-Albānī states that no authentic hadith establishes Allah's quʿūd on the Throne, and that the poem attributed to al-Dāraquṭnī cited by al-Dashtī in Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (1/144) has an unsound chain (Abū al-ʿIzz ibn Kādish, 'mukhalliṭ'). These are al-Albānī's judgements, quoted as his. In the Dārimī version the chain is from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah directly (mursal in this wording), whereas the ʿUmar version names ʿUmar.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
Al-Khallāl said: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal] — when it was said to him: “ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him, ‘How do we know Allah, Mighty and Majestic?’ He said: ‘Above the Throne, with a ḥadd (limit)’” — say: “That has reached me from him,” and it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds…” [al-Baqarah 2:210]; then he recited: “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank” [al-Fajr 89:22].
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34, quoting al-Khallāl, Kitāb al-Sunnah. Parallel with full isnād: Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/158–159 no. 114
Source, chain and authenticity
The same page of Darʾ continues with two more reports al-Khallāl gives: (1) al-Athram < Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaysī: 'I said to Aḥmad: it is reported from Ibn al-Mubārak — it was said to him, How do we know our Lord? — “In the seventh heaven upon His Throne, with a ḥadd.” Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.”' (2) Ḥarb < Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh: 'He is above the Throne with a ḥadd?
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وما في الكلام من نفي تحديد الخلق وتقديرهم لربهم وبلوغهم صفته لا ينافي ما نص عليه أحمد وغيره من الأئمة، كما ذكره الخلال أيضاً، قال: (حدثنا أبو بكر المروزي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله - لما قيل له: روى علي بن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك، أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف الله ﷿؟ قال: على العرش بحد - قال: قد بلغني ذلك عنه، وأعجبه، ثم قال أبو عبد الله: ﴿هل ينظرون إلا أن يأتيهم الله في ظلل من الغمام﴾ (البقرة: ٢١٠) ثم قال: ﴿وجاء ربك والملك صفا صفا﴾ (الفجر: ٢٢) .
قال الخلال: وأنبأنا محمد بن علي الوراق، حدثنا أبو بكر الأثرم، حدثني محمد بن إبراهيم القيسي، قال: قلت لأحمد بن حنبل: يحكى عن ابن المبارك - وقيل له: كيف تعرف ربنا؟ - قال: في السماء السابعة على عرشه بحد، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا.
وأخبرني حرب بن إسماعيل قال: قلت لإسحاق - يعني ابن راهويه -: هو على العرش بحد؟ قال: نعم بحد.
وذكر عن ابن المبارك قال: هو على عرشه بائن من خلقه بحد.
قال: وأخبرنا المروزي قال: قال إسحاق بن إبراهيم بن راهويه: قال الله ﵎: ﴿الرحمن على العرش استوى﴾ (طه: ٥)
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
What occurs in [Aḥmad's] words by way of negating that creatures delimit their Lord, measure Him, or attain [knowledge of] His attribute does not contradict what Aḥmad and other imams explicitly stated, as al-Khallāl also reported…
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34
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Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah:
نحن نؤمن بالله ﷿ على عرشه كيف شاء وكما شاء بلا حد ولا صفة يبلغها واصف أو يحده أحد فصفات الله ﷿ منه وله وهو كما وصف نفسه لا تدركه الأبصار بحد ولا غاية وهو لايدرَك وهو يدرك الأبصار وهو عالم الغيب والشهادة علام الغيوب ولا يدركه وصف واصف وهو كما وصف نفسه وليس من الله شيء محدود ولا يبلغ علمه وقدرته أحد غلب الأشياء كلها بعلمه وقدرته وسلطانه ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير وكان الله قبل أن يكون شيء والله الأول وهو الآخر ولا يبلغ أحد حد صفاته
This which is preserved from the Salaf and the imams — the affirmation of a ḥadd for Allah in Himself — they explained along with it that the servants do not delimit Him nor comprehend Him. That is why their statements on this are not contradictory, as some people suppose: for they denied that anyone could delimit Allah, as Ḥanbal reported from him [Aḥmad] in Kitāb al-Sunnah wa-l-Miḥnah, and al-Khallāl narrated it in Kitāb al-Sunnah: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal informed me: my father Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq narrated to me, saying: My uncle [Aḥmad] said: “We believe in Allah, Mighty and Majestic, upon His Throne, however He wills and as He wills, without a ḥadd and without a description that a describer can attain or by which anyone could delimit Him. The attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, are from Him and belong to Him, and He is as He described Himself: vision does not comprehend Him with a ḥadd or an extremity, and He does not get comprehended while He comprehends all vision; He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, the All-Knower of the unseen. The description of no describer attains Him; He is as He described Himself. Nothing of Allah is limited (maḥdūd), and none attains [the extent of] His knowledge and power; He overcame all things by His knowledge, His power and His authority. ‘There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.’ Allah was before anything was; Allah is the First and He is the Last; and none attains the limit (ḥadd) of His attributes.”
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah 3/706–707
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نحن نؤمن بالله ﷿ على عرشه كيف شاء وكما شاء بلا حد ولا صفة يبلغها واصف أو يحده أحد فصفات الله ﷿ منه وله وهو كما وصف نفسه لا تدركه الأبصار بحد ولا غاية وهو لايدرَك وهو يدرك الأبصار وهو عالم الغيب والشهادة علام الغيوب ولا يدركه وصف واصف وهو كما وصف نفسه وليس من الله شيء محدود ولا يبلغ علمه وقدرته أحد غلب الأشياء كلها بعلمه وقدرته وسلطانه ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير وكان الله قبل أن يكون شيء والله الأول وهو الآخر ولا يبلغ أحد حد صفاته فالتسليم لأمر الله والرضا بقضائه نسأل الله التوفيق والسداد إنه على كل شيء قدير
Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Minhāj al-Sunnah:
فَاللَّهُ مُنَزَّهٌ عَنِ الْحَاجَةِ إِلَى الْغَيْرِ وَإِحَاطَةِ الْغَيْرِ بِهِ وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ.
وَإِنْ أُرِيدَ بِالْمَكَانِ مَا فَوْقَ الْعَالَمِ وَمَا هُوَ الرَّبُّ فَوْقَهُ؛ قِيلَ: [إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ] (٢) إِلَّا خَالِقٌ أَوْ مَخْلُوقٌ، وَالْخَالِقُ بَائِنٌ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِ (٣) ، كَانَ هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ فَوْقَهُ شَيْءٌ.
وَإِذَا قَالَ [الْقَائِلُ] (٤) : هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ (٥) بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهُ ; فَهَذَا الْمَعْنَى حَقٌّ سَوَاءً: سَمَّيْتَ ذَلِكَ مَكَانًا أَوْ لَمْ تُسَمِّهِ.
وَإِذَا عُرِفَ الْمَقْصُودُ فَمَذْهَبُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ (٦) مَا دَلَّ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ وَالسُّنَّةُ وَاتَّفَقَ عَلَيْهِ سَلَفُ الْأُمَّةِ، وَهُوَ الْقَوْلُ (٧) الْمُطَابِقُ لِصَحِيحِ الْمَنْقُولِ وَصَرِيحِ الْمَعْقُولِ.
If it is said: “He is in a place,” in the sense of something else encompassing Him and His needing something else — then Allah is exalted above needing anything else, above being encompassed by anything else, and the like. But if by ‘place’ is meant what is above the world and what the Lord is above: it is said, [since there is nothing] but Creator and created, and the Creator is separate from the created, He is the Manifest (al-Ẓāhir) above whom there is nothing. And when [the speaker] says, “He, Glorified is He, is above His heavens, upon His Throne, separate from His creation,” this meaning is true, whether you call that a ‘place’ or do not call it so. And once the intent is known, the position of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah is what the Book and the Sunnah indicate and the Salaf of the Ummah agreed upon, and it is the position that accords with authentic transmission and clear reason.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah 2/145
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Bracketed words '[idhā lam yakun]' and '[al-qāʾil]' are the editor's (Rashād Sālim) restorations, marked in the edition.
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فَاللَّهُ مُنَزَّهٌ عَنِ الْحَاجَةِ إِلَى الْغَيْرِ وَإِحَاطَةِ الْغَيْرِ بِهِ وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ.
وَإِنْ أُرِيدَ بِالْمَكَانِ مَا فَوْقَ الْعَالَمِ وَمَا هُوَ الرَّبُّ فَوْقَهُ؛ قِيلَ: [إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ] (٢) إِلَّا خَالِقٌ أَوْ مَخْلُوقٌ، وَالْخَالِقُ بَائِنٌ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِ (٣) ، كَانَ هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ فَوْقَهُ شَيْءٌ.
وَإِذَا قَالَ [الْقَائِلُ] (٤) : هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ (٥) بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهُ ; فَهَذَا الْمَعْنَى حَقٌّ سَوَاءً: سَمَّيْتَ ذَلِكَ مَكَانًا أَوْ لَمْ تُسَمِّهِ.
وَإِذَا عُرِفَ الْمَقْصُودُ فَمَذْهَبُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ (٦) مَا دَلَّ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ وَالسُّنَّةُ وَاتَّفَقَ عَلَيْهِ سَلَفُ الْأُمَّةِ، وَهُوَ الْقَوْلُ (٧) الْمُطَابِقُ لِصَحِيحِ الْمَنْقُولِ وَصَرِيحِ الْمَعْقُولِ.
[الكلام على قوله وَإِلَّا لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا]
[الرد على دليل الرافضة والمعتزلة]
وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُ: " وَإِلَّا لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا " فَمَضْمُونُهُ أَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ جِسْمًا أَوْ فِي مَكَانٍ لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا.
[فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: قَدْ بَيَّنَّا مَا يُنْفَى عَنْهُ مِنْ مَعَانِي الْجِسْمِ وَالْمَكَانِ، وَبَيَّنَّا مَا لَا يَجُوزُ نَفْيُهُ عَنْهُ، وَإِنْ سَمَّاهُ بَعْضُ النَّاسِ جِسْمًا وَمَكَانًا، لَكِنْ مَا الدَّلِيلُ عَلَى أَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ كَذَلِكَ لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا] (٨) وَأَنْتَ (٩) لَمْ تَذْكُرْ دَلِيلًا عَلَى ذَلِكَ؟
Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, Ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
Ibn Rajab said in Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn:
وَأَمَا المَكَانُ فَفِيْهِ نِزَاعٌ وَتَفْصِيْلٌ، وَفِي "الصَّحِيْحَيْنِ" إِثْبَاتُ لَفْظِ المَكَانِ، وَأَمَّا الانْتِقَالُ: فَفِيْهِ جَوَابَانِ:
أحَدُهُمَا: لَا نُسَلِّمُ لُزُوْمَهُ؛ فَإِنَّ نُزُوْلَهُ لَيْسَ كَنُزُوْلِ المَخْلُوْقِيْنَ، وَلِهَذَا نُقِلَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ الأئِمَّةِ أَنَّهُ يَنْزِلُ، وَلَا يَخْلُو مِنْهُ العَرْشُ.
وَالثَّانِي: أَنَّ هَذَا مَبنِيٌّ علَى إِثْبَاتِ الأفْعَالِ الاخْتِيَارِيَّةِ، وَقِيَامُهَا بِالذَّاتِ، وَفِيْهَا قَوْلَانِ لأهْلِ الحَدِيْثِ المُتَأَخِّرِيْنَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا وَغَيْرِهِمْ.
As for his saying, “I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent”: if this is authentic from him, then it is true; it is like someone saying, “I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of His existence,” or “the reality of His speech,” or “the reality of His knowledge,” or “His hearing and seeing,” and the like. As for place (al-makān), there is dispute and detail (tafṣīl) concerning it; and in the two Ṣaḥīḥs there is the affirmation of the word makān. As for transfer (al-intiqāl), there are two answers concerning it. One: we do not concede that it is entailed, for His descent is not like the descent of creatures; hence it has been transmitted from a group of the imams that He descends while the Throne is not emptied of Him. The second: this is built upon the affirmation of volitional acts (al-afʿāl al-ikhtiyāriyyah) and their subsisting in the Essence, and on this there are two positions among the later people of hadith, among our companions and others.
Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn, 3/35
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The second label is accurate.
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وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُمْ: "إِنَّ الحَنْبَلِيِّ وَافَقُوا الجَمَاعَةَ" فَهَذَا إِمَّا أَنْ يَكُوْنَ صَحِيْحًا، أَوْ غَيْرَ صَحِيْحٍ، فَإِنْ كَانَ صَحِيْحًا، فَهُوَ تَقِيَّةٌ وَنفَاقٌ مِنْهُمْ، وَإِلَّا فَكَلَامُ بني نَجْمِ الدِّيْنِ الحَنْبَلِيِّ، وَكَلَامُ أَبِيْهِمْ فِي إِثْبَاتِ الصَّوْتِ كَثيْرٌ مَوْجُودٌ، وَسَنَذْكُرُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللّهُ مِمَّا نَقَلَهُ النَّاصِحُ الحَنْبَلِيُّ خَاصَّةً فِي إِثْبَاتِ الَصَّوْتِ مَا نَذْكُرُهُ فِي مَوَاضِعِهِ.
وَأمَا قَوْلُهُ: "وَلَا أُنَزِّهُهُ تَنزيْهًا يَنْفِي حَقِيْقَةَ النُّزُوْلِ"، فَإِنْ صَحَّ هَذَا عَنْهُ فَهُوَ حَقٌّ، وَهُوَ كَقَوْلِ القَائلِ: لَا أُنَزِّهُهُ تَنْزِيْهًا يَنْفِي حَقِيْقَةَ وُجُوْدِهِ، أَوْ حَقِيْقَةَ كَلَامِهِ، أَوْ حَقِيْقَةَ عِلْمِهِ، أَوْ سَمْعِهِ وَبَصَرِهِ، وَنَحْوَ ذلِكَ.
وَأَمَا المَكَانُ فَفِيْهِ نِزَاعٌ وَتَفْصِيْلٌ، وَفِي "الصَّحِيْحَيْنِ" إِثْبَاتُ لَفْظِ المَكَانِ، وَأَمَّا الانْتِقَالُ: فَفِيْهِ جَوَابَانِ:
أحَدُهُمَا: لَا نُسَلِّمُ لُزُوْمَهُ؛ فَإِنَّ نُزُوْلَهُ لَيْسَ كَنُزُوْلِ المَخْلُوْقِيْنَ، وَلِهَذَا نُقِلَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ الأئِمَّةِ أَنَّهُ يَنْزِلُ، وَلَا يَخْلُو مِنْهُ العَرْشُ.
وَالثَّانِي: أَنَّ هَذَا مَبنِيٌّ علَى إِثْبَاتِ الأفْعَالِ الاخْتِيَارِيَّةِ، وَقِيَامُهَا بِالذَّاتِ، وَفِيْهَا قَوْلَانِ لأهْلِ الحَدِيْثِ المُتَأَخِّرِيْنَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا وَغَيْرِهِمْ.
وَأمَّا إِنْكَارُ إِثْبَاتِ الصَّوْتِ عَنِ الإِمَامِ الَّذِي يَنْتَمِي إِلَيْهِ الحَافِظُ، فَمِنْ
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (al-Maghribiyyah Ed.)
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in al-Tamhīd:
Abū ʿUmar [Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr] said: The people of the Sunnah are unanimous in affirming all the attributes that have come in the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, believing in them, and taking them according to their reality, not as metaphor — except that they do not ascribe modality to any of it, nor delimit in it a confined description.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (al-Maghribiyyah ed.) 7/145; = ed. Bashshār 5/156
Source, chain and authenticity
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'Proof in the ṣaḥīḥayn for Allah being in a place' — Ibn Rajab's words are 'in the two Ṣaḥīḥs is the affirmation of the WORD makān' with 'dispute and detail'; restate exactly.
Were the Ḥanbalīs Mufawwiḍah? Ḥanbalī and Early Atharī Texts on Ḥadd, Makān, Nuzūl, Ḥarakah and Julūs
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
Al-Khallāl said: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal] — when it was said to him: “ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him, ‘How do we know Allah, Mighty and Majestic?’ He said: ‘Above the Throne, with a ḥadd (limit)’” — say: “That has reached me from him,” and it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds…” [al-Baqarah 2:210]; then he recited: “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank” [al-Fajr 89:22].
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34, quoting al-Khallāl, Kitāb al-Sunnah. Parallel with full isnād: Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/158–159 no. 114
Source, chain and authenticity
The same page of Darʾ continues with two more reports al-Khallāl gives: (1) al-Athram < Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaysī: 'I said to Aḥmad: it is reported from Ibn al-Mubārak — it was said to him, How do we know our Lord? — “In the seventh heaven upon His Throne, with a ḥadd.” Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.”' (2) Ḥarb < Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh: 'He is above the Throne with a ḥadd?
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وما في الكلام من نفي تحديد الخلق وتقديرهم لربهم وبلوغهم صفته لا ينافي ما نص عليه أحمد وغيره من الأئمة، كما ذكره الخلال أيضاً، قال: (حدثنا أبو بكر المروزي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله - لما قيل له: روى علي بن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك، أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف الله ﷿؟ قال: على العرش بحد - قال: قد بلغني ذلك عنه، وأعجبه، ثم قال أبو عبد الله: ﴿هل ينظرون إلا أن يأتيهم الله في ظلل من الغمام﴾ (البقرة: ٢١٠) ثم قال: ﴿وجاء ربك والملك صفا صفا﴾ (الفجر: ٢٢) .
قال الخلال: وأنبأنا محمد بن علي الوراق، حدثنا أبو بكر الأثرم، حدثني محمد بن إبراهيم القيسي، قال: قلت لأحمد بن حنبل: يحكى عن ابن المبارك - وقيل له: كيف تعرف ربنا؟ - قال: في السماء السابعة على عرشه بحد، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا.
وأخبرني حرب بن إسماعيل قال: قلت لإسحاق - يعني ابن راهويه -: هو على العرش بحد؟ قال: نعم بحد.
وذكر عن ابن المبارك قال: هو على عرشه بائن من خلقه بحد.
قال: وأخبرنا المروزي قال: قال إسحاق بن إبراهيم بن راهويه: قال الله ﵎: ﴿الرحمن على العرش استوى﴾ (طه: ٥)
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql:
What occurs in [Aḥmad's] words by way of negating that creatures delimit their Lord, measure Him, or attain [knowledge of] His attribute does not contradict what Aḥmad and other imams explicitly stated, as al-Khallāl also reported…
Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql 2/34
Source, chain and authenticity
Precision of the claim: Aḥmad is not quoted here as uttering 'bi-ḥadd' himself; he approved (aʿjabahu) Ibn al-Mubārak's 'on the Throne, with a ḥadd' and in the parallel report said 'that is how it is with us'.
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, Ed. Ṣabrī
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said in al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī:
فيقول: نعم.
فقل له: حين خلق الشيء خلقه في نفسه أو خارجًا من نفسه؟ فإنه يصير إلى ثلاثة أقوال، لابد له من واحد منها.
إن زعم أن الله خلق الخلق في نفسه كفر، حين زعم أن الجن والإنس والشياطين في نفسه
If you wish to know that the Jahmī lies against Allah when he claims that Allah is in every place and is not in one place to the exclusion of another, then say: “Was Allah not [existent] when there was nothing?” He will say: “Yes.” Then say to him: “When He created a thing, did He create it within Himself or outside Himself?” He must arrive at one of three positions; he cannot avoid one of them. If he claims that Allah created creation within Himself, he has disbelieved, since he has claimed that jinn, men and devils are within Him…
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī, p. 155
Source, chain and authenticity
The argument (strengthened, faithful to the text): Aḥmad's 'division argument' (al-sabr wa-l-taqsīm). (1) Allah existed and nothing else existed. (2) When He created, creation was either within Him or outside Him. (3) Within Him is disbelief. (4) Outside Him, and then He either entered into it or did not; entering into the filth and devils of creation is disbelief. (5) Therefore He is outside and distinct (bāʾin) from it, which contradicts 'in every place equally'.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
And the Jahmiyyah, enemies of Allah, are those who claim that the Qurʾān is created; that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not speak to Moses; that Allah does not speak; that He is not seen; that no place (makān) is known for Allah; and that Allah has neither Throne nor Kursī; and much else that I dislike to relate. They are disbelievers, heretics, enemies of Allah, so beware of them.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 81; Masāʾil Ḥarb, ed. Fāyiz Ḥābis 3/980; quoted by al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww p. 194
Source, chain and authenticity
TEXTUAL VARIANT: the clause 'wa-lā yurā, wa-lā yuʿraf lillāh makān, wa-laysah lillāh ʿarsh wa-lā kursī' is ABSENT from the version transmitted in Ibn Abī Yaʿlā's Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah (editor's siglum ط), but present in the Masāʾil text and in al-Dhahabī's citation. The editor of Ijmāʿ al-Salaf marks it in brackets with footnote: 'lā tūjad fī (ṭ)'. Any citation of this clause must name the Masāʾil/al-Dhahabī transmission, not the Ṭabaqāt.
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* والواقفة: وهم الذين يزعمون [أنا نقول إن القرآن كلام الله، ولا نقول غير مخلوق (¬٦) وهم شر الأصناف وأخبثها.
* واللفظية: وهم الذين يزعمون أنا نقول] (¬٧) إن القرآن كلام الله، ولكن ألفاظنا بالقرآن [وتلاوتنا] (¬٨) وقراءتنا له مخلوقة (¬٩)، وهم جهمية فساق.
* والرافضة (¬١٠): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exact force: Ḥarb counts 'no place is known for Allah' among the heresies of the Jahmiyyah he declares disbelievers; the affirmation (that a place, in the sense of above the Throne, is known) is entailed by the condemnation, and is stated directly in the same creed: 'Allah is upon the Throne above the seventh heaven… separate (bāʾin) from His creation' .
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, Ed. Ṣabrī
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said in al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī:
We said: “You have made a grave fabrication against Allah when you claimed that He does not speak, for you have likened Him to the idols that are worshipped besides Allah: for idols do not speak, do not move, and do not pass from place to place.”
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī, p. 138
Source, chain and authenticity
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أليس الله هو القائل؟
قالوا: فَيُكوِّن الله شيئًا فيُعَبِّر عن الله، كما كَوَّن شيئًا فعَبَّر لموسى.
قلنا: فمن القائل: ﴿فَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الْمُرْسَلِينَ، فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ بِعِلْمٍ﴾ [الأعراف: ٦، ٧] .
أليس الله هو الذي يسأل؟
قالوا: هذا كله إنما يكون شيئًا، فيعبر عن الله.
قلنا: قد أعظمتم على الله الفرية، حين زعمتم أنه لا يتكلم فشبهتموه بالأصنام التي تعبد من دون الله؛ لأن الأصنام لا تتكلم، ولا تتحرك ولا تزول من مكان إلى مكان.
فلما ظهرت عليه الحجة قال: إن الله قد يتكلم، ولكن كلامه مخلوق,
Exact force: Aḥmad's explicit target is the denial of speech; he argues that a god who does not speak has been likened to idols, which neither speak, move, nor pass from place to place.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
489 — I heard my father (may Allah have mercy on him) [say]: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated to us the hadith of Sufyān, from al-Aʿmash, from Manṣūr, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAbīdah, from ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Masʿūd], from the Prophet ﷺ: “Allah holds the heavens upon a finger.” My father (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Yaḥyā began pointing with his fingers. And my father showed me how he pointed with his finger, placing one finger after another until he reached the last of them.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/264 no. 489
Source, chain and authenticity
The isnād is given in full above as it stands in the book.
Exact force: the gesture is Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān's, reproduced by Aḥmad for his son: a chain of imams demonstrating the hadith by gesture. The doctrinal point is that they understood 'iṣbaʿ' as a real attribute to be affirmed (not reinterpreted as 'power'), while the gesture conveys the narrative of the hadith, not a likeness.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
…He is not ignorant; Generous, not miserly; Forbearing, not hasty; Preserving, not forgetful; Ever-wakeful, not distracted; Watchful, not heedless. He speaks, and moves, [and hears and sees], and looks, [and grasps] and extends, [and laughs], [and rejoices, loves, dislikes, hates…]
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 60
Source, chain and authenticity
TEXTUAL VARIANTS (editor's footnotes on this page): 'wa-yataḥarrak' — in (ṭ) [Ṭabaqāt]: 'yataḥarrak wa-yatakallam'; in MS (ḥ) 'yataḥarrak' is ABSENT. 'raqīb' — in (ṭ) and (ḥ): 'qarīb'. Editor's doctrinal note (fn. 4): the word ḥarakah is not in the Book or Sunnah and the Salaf used it only in refuting the Muʿaṭṭilah; preferable to keep to scriptural wording (nuzūl, ityān, majīʾ), citing Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 16/423–424; Naqḍ al-Dārimī 1/215; Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣawāʿiq 4/1230. Editor also notes 'Yaqẓān' is not an established Name of Allah. These are the editor's words, not Ḥarb's.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī said in Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād:
* ولله [﷿] (¬٩) عرش، وللعرش حَمَلَةٌ يحملونه.
* وله حد، الله أعلم بحده
…say: He means by that only [His] knowledge, because Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is upon the Throne above the highest seventh heaven, knowing all of that, and He is separate from His creation; no place is devoid of His knowledge. — And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has a Throne, and the Throne has bearers who carry it. — And He has a ḥadd (limit); Allah best knows His ḥadd.
Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād, p. 57
Source, chain and authenticity
Editor's footnote 10 on this line (editor's view, not Ḥarb's): ḥadd is among the ambiguous terms (al-alfāẓ al-mujmalah) not found in the revealed texts in negation or affirmation; Ahl al-Sunnah neither affirm nor negate such terms without explanation — then explains the intended meaning.
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* ولله [﷿] (¬٩) عرش، وللعرش حَمَلَةٌ يحملونه.
* وله حد، الله أعلم بحده (¬١٠).
This is the strongest single Ḥarb text on ḥadd because of its context: Ḥarb sets it directly after 'upon the Throne… separate from His creation', which fixes what ḥadd means here: Allah's being distinct from creation, with its reality known to Him alone ('Allah best knows His ḥadd'). That last clause is itself the refutation of the charge of tashbīh: the ḥadd is affirmed and its modality consigned to Allah.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl:
And that position is well known among the imams, such as Ḥammād ibn Zayd, Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh and others. Al-Khallāl said in Kitāb al-Sunnah: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī narrated to us: Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Muqaddamī narrated to us: Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb narrated to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Sarī asked Ḥammād ibn Zayd: “O Abū Ismāʿīl, the hadith that has come, ‘Allah descends to the lowest heaven’: does He shift from place to place?” Ḥammād ibn Zayd was silent, then said: “He is in His place, drawing near to His creation however He wills.” And Ibn Baṭṭah narrated it in al-Ibānah, saying: …
Ibn Taymiyyah, Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl p. 40; = Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 5/376; also Darʾ Taʿāruḍ 2/25. Original: al-Khallāl, Kitāb al-Sunnah (portion not extant in the surviving volumes
Source, chain and authenticity
Exact force: Ḥammād ibn Zayd (d. 179) affirms 'He is in His place (fī makānih)' while affirming nuzūl and nearness 'however He wills'. This is an explicit early use of makān for Allah, from a Successor-of-the-Successors imam, with a chain al-Khallāl → al-Firyābī → al-Muqaddamī → Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad reported in Kitāb al-Sunnah:
216 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Shabbawayh Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to me, saying: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan, i.e. Ibn Shaqīq, say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh [ibn al-Mubārak] say: “Faith is speech and action; it increases and decreases.” And I heard him say: “We [can] relate the speech of the Jews and Christians, but we cannot bring ourselves to relate the speech of the Jahmiyyah.” He said: And I heard ʿAbd Allāh say: “We know our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, as above seven heavens, upon the Throne, separate from His creation, with a ḥadd; and we do not say as the Jahmiyyah say: ‘Here’” — and he pointed with his hand to the earth.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah 1/174–175 no. 216
Source, chain and authenticity
Speaker of 'we know our Lord' is Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181), narrated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad — the label's 'Imam Ahmad's son narrating' is accurate as to the narrator.
This is the base text of the Ibn al-Mubārak report that Aḥmad approved : here with its own chain, Ibn Shabbawayh ← ʿAlī ibn Shaqīq ← Ibn al-Mubārak, and with the explicit contrast 'not as the Jahmiyyah say: here', which fixes the meaning of ḥadd as distinctness from creation above it.
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
Exact force: Wakīʿ (d. 197) reports that al-Aʿmash and Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated such reports without objection, and he rebuked someone who recoiled from it. The point established is the early imams' stance toward attribute-reports (narrate, do not reject), independent of the grading of this specific chain.
Al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah
Al-Khallāl reported in al-Sunnah:
245 — Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib informed us: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shayba narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from Layth, from Mujāhid, [on] “It may be that your Lord will raise you to a praised station” [al-Isrāʾ 17:79]: he said, “He will seat him with Himself upon the Throne.” Abū Bakr ibn Abī Ṭālib said: Whoever rejects it has rejected [what is] from Allah, Mighty and Majestic; and whoever denies a merit of the Prophet ﷺ has disbelieved in Allah the Magnificent.
al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah 1/215 no. 164. Parallel: no. 243 with 'yuqʿiduhu ʿalā al-ʿarsh'
Source, chain and authenticity
The label should be restated to match the text: 'al-Khallāl narrates Mujāhid's tafsīr that the Prophet ﷺ will be seated with Him on the Throne'.
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٢٤٧ - وَأَخْبَرَنِي أَحْمَدُ بْنُ أَصْرَمَ الْمُزَنِيُّ، بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ، وَقَالَ: «مَنْ رَدَّ هَذَا فَهُوَ مُتَّهَمٌ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ، وَهُوَ عِنْدَنَا كَافِرٌ، وَزَعَمَ أَنَّ مَنَ قَالَ ⦗٢١٦⦘ بِهَذَا فَهُوَ ثَنَوِيُّ، فَقَدْ زَعَمَ أَنَّ الْعُلَمَاءَ وَالتَّابِعِينَ ثَنَوِيَّةٌ، وَمَنْ قَالَ بِهَذَا فَهُوَ زِنْدِيقٌ يُقْتَلُ»
٢٤٣ - أَخْبَرَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ وَاصِلٍ الْمُقْرِئُ، قَالَ: ثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، قَالَ: ثَنَا ابْنُ فُضَيْلٍ، عَنْ لَيْثٍ، عَنْ مُجَاهِدٍ: ﴿عَسَى أَنْ يَبْعَثَكَ رَبُّكَ مَقَامًا مَحْمُودًا﴾ [الإسراء: ٧٩] قَالَ: «يُقْعِدُهُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ» . فَسَمِعْتُ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ وَاصِلٍ، قَالَ: مَنْ رَدَّ حَدِيثَ مُجَاهِدٍ فَهُوَ جَهْمِيُّ
This narration is contested.
Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, Ed. al-Faqīhī
Ibn Mandah said in Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, ed. al-Faqīhī:
Commentary: Under this heading the author has mentioned the attribute of descent (nuzūl) for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in the manner befitting His majesty and perfection, as He said: “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” He cited this volitional attribute of Allah — the descent to judge between His servants, as in the verse he mentioned, and then the descent to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, when He says: “Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will ask Me that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?” This wording in this narration, and the wordings that come after it, are all explicit in indicating that the descent is real (ḥaqīqah); it is not valid to reinterpret it, because interpreting it as [the descent of] an angel is refuted by the explicit wording of the hadith: an angel does not step forward before his Lord and say to the servants — while he is a creature like them — “Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?”, since none answers the caller except Allah, as He said: “And your Lord said: Call upon Me; I will answer you” [Ghāfir 40:60], and none forgives sins except Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “Indeed Allah forgives all sins” [al-Zumar 39:53]. Had the one commanded [to speak] been an angel, he would have said: “Your Lord says: Who will call upon Him that He may answer him? Who will seek His forgiveness that He may forgive him?”
Ibn Mandah, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, ed. al-Faqīhī, 3/300 — EDITOR'S COMMENTARY. Shamela's copy of this edition does not carry the editor's taʿlīq
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
Source, chain and authenticity
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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: ...
The argument (strengthened, correctly attributed): the 'angel' reinterpretation of nuzūl fails on the hadith's own grammar — the speaker says 'Call upon ME, I will answer', and only Allah answers prayer and forgives sins (40:60; 39:53). An angel conveying it would speak in the third person ('your Lord says…'), as angels do in other reports.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah said in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
Rather, we say: Our Lord, Exalted is He, is in the loftiest of places and the highest of the high (aʿlā ʿilliyyīn); He has risen over His Throne above His heavens, and His knowledge encompasses all His creation: He knows what is far as He knows what is near, and knows what is hidden as He knows what is manifest, as He, Exalted is He, described Himself…
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/141; also quoted in the editor's footnote to Aḥmad's al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah, ed. Ṣabrī, p. 156
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Exact force: Ibn Baṭṭah (d. 387) uses 'arfaʿ al-amākin' (the loftiest of places) of Allah in direct contrast to the Jahmī 'in every place', and pairs it with istiwāʾ and the encompassing of knowledge — the standard Atharī division: Allah above by His essence, with creation by His knowledge.
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā
Ibn Baṭṭah reported in al-Ibānah al-Kubrā:
114 — Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Rajāʾ narrated to us: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Baṣrawī narrated to us: Abū Bakr al-Marrūdhī narrated to us, saying: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Aḥmad] — it having been said to him: “ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that it was said to him, ‘How do we know Allah?’ He said: ‘Above the Throne, with a ḥadd’” — and he said: “That has reached me from him,” and it pleased him. Then Abū ʿAbd Allāh recited: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them in shadows of clouds, and the angels…” [2:210]; then he recited: “And your Lord comes, and the angels, rank upon rank” [89:22].
Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah al-Kubrā 7/158–159 no
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This is the full-isnād version of the report Ibn Taymiyyah quotes from al-Khallāl .
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١١٥ - وَقَالَ يُوسُفُ بْنُ مُوسَى الْقَطَّانُ: قِيلَ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: وَاللَّهُ تَعَالَى فَوْقَ السَّمَاءِ السَّابِعَةِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، وَقُدْرَتُهُ، وَعِلْمُهُ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ لَا يَخْلُو شَيْءٌ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ
١١٦ - قَالَ أَبُو طَالِبٍ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، عَنْ رَجُلٍ قَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا، وَتَلَا هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧]، ⦗١٦٠⦘ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: قَدْ تَجَهَّمَ هَذَا، يَأْخُذُونَ بِآخِرِ الْآيَةِ، وَيَدْعُونَ أَوَّلَهَا: ﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾: الْعِلْمُ مَعَهُمْ، وَقَالَ فِي ق: ﴿وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ، وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ﴾ [ق: ١٦]، فَعِلْمُهُ مَعَهُمْ
١١٧ - وَقِيلَ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: فَرَجُلٌ قَالَ: أَقُولُ كَمَا قَالَ تَعَالَى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ وَلَا خَمْسَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ سَادِسُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧]، أَقُولُ هَكَذَا وَلَا أُجَاوِزُهُ إِلَى غَيْرِهِ؟، فَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ: هَذَا كَلَامُ الْجَهْمِيَّةِ، ⦗١٦١⦘ قَالُوا: كَيْفَ نَقُولُ؟ قَالَ: عِلْمُهُ مَعَهُمْ، وَأَوَّلُ الْآيَةِ يَدُلُّ عَلَى أَنَّهُ عِلْمُهُ، ثُمَّ قَرَأَ: ﴿يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٦]. . . الْآيَةَ،
١١٨ - وَقِيلَ لِإِسْحَاقَ بْنِ رَاهَوَيْهِ: قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿مَا يَكُونُ مِنْ نَجْوَى ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ﴾ [المجادلة: ٧] كَيْفَ تَقُولَ فِيهِ؟ قَالَ: وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتَ فَهُوَ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ، وَهُوَ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، قَالَ حَرْبٌ: قُلْتُ لِإِسْحَاقَ بْنِ رَاهَوَيْهِ: الْعَرْشُ بِحَدٍّ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، وَذُكِرَ عَنِ ابْنِ الْمُبَارَكِ قَالَ: هُوَ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ بِحَدٍّ ⦗١٦٢⦘
١١٩ - قَالَ حَرْبٍ: وَأَمْلَى عَلَيَّ إِسْحَاقُ: أَنَّ اللَّهَ وَصَفَ نَفْسَهُ فِي كِتَابِهِ بِصِفَاتٍ اسْتَغْنَى الْخَلْقُ أَنْ يَصِفُوهُ بِغَيْرِ مَا وَصَفَ بِهِ نَفْسَهُ، وَمِنْ ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُ ﴿إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠]، وَقَوْلُهُ: ﴿الْمَلَائِكَةَ حَافِّينَ مِنْ حَوْلِ الْعَرْشِ﴾ [الزمر: ٧٥]، فِي آيَاتٍ كُلِّهَا تَصِفُ الْعَرْشَ، وَقَدْ ثَبَتَتِ الرِّوَايَاتُ فِي الْعَرْشِ، وَأَعْلَى شَيْءٍ فِيهِ، وَأَثْبَتُهُ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ [طه: ٥]
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
وتأوَّله بعضهم على ﷺ وأنَّه هو جالس على كرسيه في الجنَّة بين يدي الله تعالى.
وهذا غلط، لأنَّ في الخبر تصريح باسم الله تعالى
As for his statement in the hadith of ʿUmar, “When He sits upon the Kursī,” it is not impossible to take it according to its apparent sense, and that His Essence (dhāt) sits upon the Kursī — not by way of direction (jiha) and limit (ḥadd), nor by way of bodily mass (juththa) and parts (abʿāḍ) — just as He described Himself with istiwāʾ upon the Throne, and that is taken according to its apparent sense as an istiwāʾ of the Essence, not by way of direction and parts; and likewise with the Kursī. They have reinterpreted the sitting and istiwāʾ upon the Kursī in the same way as their reinterpretation of istiwāʾ upon the Throne, and discussion of it is forthcoming. Some of them interpreted it as referring to the Prophet ﷺ, i.e. that he will be seated upon his chair in Paradise before Allah, Exalted is He. This is a mistake, because the report explicitly names Allah, Exalted is He.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 585
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EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE (Ghirās edition, the editor's words, not Abū Yaʿlā's): 'Describing Allah with julūs did not come in the Book, the Sunnah, or the speech of the Salaf! Even though the domain of reporting (ikhbār) is wider than that of names and attributes, a meaning unbefitting Allah — need and dependence — may be understood from this word, so turning away from it is obligatory.'
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وهذا يمنع تأويله على العِلم، لأنَّ العِلم لا يتَّصف بالقَوائم، وبكونه تحت العَرش، ولأنَّه أضافَ القدمين إليه، والعلم لا يختص بالكُرسي ولا بالقدمين.
وأمَّا قوله في حديث عمر "إذَا جَلَسَ على الكُرسي" فغيرُ ممتنع حمله على ظاهره، وأنَّ ذاته جالسة على الكرسي (¬١) لا على وجه الجهة والحدّ، ولا على وجه الجثَّة والأَبْعَاض، كما وَصَفَ نفسه تعالى بالإستواء على العرش، وأنَّ ذلك محمول على ظاهره في استواء الذات، لا على وجه الجهة والأبعاض، كذلك في الكرسي، وقد تأولوا الجلوس والإستواء على الكرسي، على نَحو تَأويلهم الإستواء على العرش، ويأتي الكلام فيه.
وتأوَّله بعضهم على ﷺ وأنَّه هو جالس على كرسيه في الجنَّة بين يدي الله تعالى.
وهذا غلط، لأنَّ في الخبر تصريح باسم الله تعالى، ولا يمتنع أيضًا أنْ يحصل للكرسي أَطِيط بجلوس ذاته عليه، لا على وجه الاعتماد والمماسَّةِ وثُقْل الجُثَّة، كما قلنا في حديث خالد بن معدان "إنَّ الرحْمنَ ليثْقِل على
Exact force: Abū Yaʿlā (d. 458) permits taking the hadith of ʿUmar on its apparent sense as referring to the Essence, explicitly excluding body, parts, direction and limit as he understands them. Note also that the underlying hadith of ʿUmar is graded munkar by al-Albānī , which must be stated wherever it is used.
Abū Yaʿlā, al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn
Abū Yaʿlā said in al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn:
They differed regarding its description. Our shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Ibn Ḥāmid] held that it is a descent of transfer (nuzūl intiqāl). He said: because this is the reality of descent (ḥaqīqat al-nuzūl) among the Arabs; and this is parallel to his position on istiwāʾ, namely ‘sat’ (qaʿadah); and this accords with the apparent sense of the hadith of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit; and because the most that can be said of it is that it is, in our case, an attribute of origination (ḥadath), yet this does not make Him originated (muḥdath) in His case — like istiwāʾ upon the Throne: He is described by it, while we differ as to its description, even though this istiwāʾ was not something He was described with in pre-eternity. Likewise we say: He spoke with letter and sound, and although that entails origination in our attributes, it does not entail it in His case. Likewise descent.
Abū Yaʿlā, al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn p. 58
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EDITOR'S FOOTNOTES on this page: (3) 'He means Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥāmid'; (4) 'Ibn al-Jawzī reported this view from him in Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh p. 45, and Shaykh al-Islām in Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 5/402.' The page continues: 'Our shaykh related from a group of our companions that they said: He descends means His power…' — i.e.
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واختلفوا في صفته: فذهب شيخنا أبو عبد الله (¬٣) إلى أنه نزول انتقال (¬٤)، قال: لأن هذا حقيقة النزول عند العرب، وهذا نظير قوله في الاستواء، يعني قعد، وهذا على ظاهر حديث عبادة بن الصامت، ولأن أكثر ما في هذا أنه من صفات الحدث في حقنا، وهذا لا يوجب كونه في حقه محدثًا، كالاستواء على العرش، هو موصوف به مع اختلافنا في صفته، وإن كان هذا الاستواء لم يكن موصوفا به في القدم، وكذلك نقول تكلم بحرف وصوت، وإن كان هذا يوجب الحدث في صفاتنا ولا يوجبه في حقه، كذلك النزول.
وحكي شيخنا عن طائفة من أصحابنا أنهم قالوا: ينزل معناه: قدرته، ولعل هذا القائل ذهب إلى ظاهر كلام أحمد في رواية حنبل أنه قال: احتجوا علىَّ يومئذ بقوله تجئ البقرة يوم القيامة ويجئ تبارك (¬٥) وقلت
Exact force: this is Ibn Ḥāmid's (d. 403) view as reported by his student Abū Yaʿlā, not a consensus statement: Abū Yaʿlā immediately records a contrary view among 'our companions'.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā reported in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
٥٥٠ - وقال الأثرم: قلت لأحمد: يحكى عن ابن المبارك: نعرف ربنا في السَّماء السَّابعة، على عرشه بحدّ، فقال أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا (¬١).
٥٥١ - ورأيت بخط أبي إسحاق أنا أبو بكر أحمد بن نصر الرفا قال: سمعت أبا بكر بن أبي داود سمعت أبي يقول: جَاء رجل إلى أحمد بن حنبل، فقال له: للَّه ﵎ حَدُّ؟ قال: نعم لا يَعْلمه إلا هُو، قال ﵎: ﴿وَتَرَى الْمَلَائِكَةَ حَافِّينَ مِنْ حَوْلِ الْعَرْشِ﴾ [الزمر: ٧٥] يقول: مُحْدِقيَن. فقد أطلقَ أحمد القول بإثْباتِ الحدِّ لله تعالى.
٥٥٢ - وقد نفاه في رواية حنبل فقال: نحنُ نُؤمن بأن الله على العرش، كيفَ شَاء وكما شَاء، بلا حَدٍّ ولا صِفَةٍ يَبْلُغُها وَاصِف أو يحدُّه أَحَد.
فقد نفى الحَدَّ عنه على الصِّفة المذكورة، وهو الحد الذي يعلمه خلقه.
والموضع الذي أطلقه محمول على معنيين:
أحدهما: على معنى أنَّه تعالى في جهة مخصوصة، وليس هو تعالى ذاهِب في الجهات الستة، بل هو خَارج العالم مُمَيَّز عن خَلْقِه، مُنْفَصِل عنهم غير دَاخل في كل الجهات!.
وهذا معنى قول أحمد: له حدٌّ لا يعلمه إلا هو.
والثاني: أنَّه على صِفة يَبينُ بها عن غيره ويتميز، ولهذا سُمِّي البوَّاب حدادًا، لأنَّه يمنع غيره عن الدخول، فهو تعالى فَرْد واحد ممتنع عن الإشتراك له في أَخصِّ صفاته.
وقد منعنا من إطلاق القول بالحدِّ في غير موضعٍ من كتابنا، ويجب أنْ يجوز على الوجه الذي ذكرنا.
ويجب أنْ يحمل اختلاف كلام أحمد في إثبات الحدِّ، على اختلاف حالين: فالموضع الذي قال إنَّه (على) (¬١) العرش بحدٍّ، معناه: أن ما حاذى العَرش منْ ذَاته هو حدّ له، وجِهَة له.
والموضع الذي قال: هو على العرش بغير حَدٍّ، معناه: ما عَدَا الجهة المُحَاذِية للعَرش، وهي الفوق والخلف والأمام واليمنة واليسرة، وكان الفرق بين جهة التحت المحاذية للعرش، وبين غيرها مما ذكرنا: أن جهة التحت تُحاذي العرش بما قد ثَبَتَ من الدليل، والعرش محدود، فجاز أنْ يُوصف ما حَاذَاه من الذَّات أنَّه حد وجهة.
وليس كذلك فيما عَدَاه، لأنَّه لا يُحاذي ما هو مَحدود، بل هو ما دلَّ في اليمنةِ واليسرةِ والفَوقِ والأَمامِ والخلفِ إلى غير غاية، فلهذا لم يُوصف واحد من ذلك بالحدِّ والجهة.
وجهة العرش تحاذي ما قابله من جهة الذَّات، ولم يُحاذِ جميع الذات، لأنه لا نهاية لها.
549 — Aḥmad stated it without qualification in the report of al-Marrūdhī: Ibn al-Mubārak's statement was mentioned to him, “We know Allah upon the Throne with a ḥadd,” and Aḥmad said: “That has reached me,” and it pleased him. 550 — Al-Athram said: I said to Aḥmad: It is related from Ibn al-Mubārak: “We know our Lord in the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, with a ḥadd.” Aḥmad said: “That is how it is with us.” 551 — I saw in the handwriting of Abū Isḥāq: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Raffāʾ informed us, saying: I heard Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd [say]: I heard my father say: A man came to Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and said to him: “Does Allah, Blessed and Exalted, have a ḥadd?” He said: “Yes, one that none knows but He. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: ‘And you will see the angels surrounding (ḥāffīn) the Throne’ [al-Zumar 39:75] — He says: encircling it (muḥdiqīn).” So Aḥmad stated the affirmation of ḥadd for Allah, Exalted is He, without qualification. 552 — And he negated it in the report of Ḥanbal, saying: “We believe that Allah is upon the Throne, however He wills and as He wills, without a ḥadd and without a description that a describer can attain or that anyone can delimit.” So he negated the ḥadd of Him in the manner mentioned, which is the ḥadd that His creatures would know. The place where he stated it without qualification is to be understood in two senses. The first: that He, Exalted is He, is in a specific direction and is not spread out in the six directions; rather He is outside the world, distinct from His creation, separate from them, not inside all the directions — and this is the meaning of Aḥmad's statement, “He has a ḥadd that none knows but He.” The second: that He is of a description by which He is distinct and differentiated from others — hence the doorkeeper is called ḥaddād, because he prevents others from entering; so He, Exalted is He, is singular, one, beyond sharing in His most specific attributes. We have forbidden the unqualified use of the word ḥadd in more than one place in our book, but it must be permitted in the sense we have mentioned. Aḥmad's differing statements on affirming the ḥadd must be understood as referring to two different respects: where he said He is [upon] the Throne with a ḥadd, it means that the part of His Essence facing the Throne is a ḥadd for Him and a direction for Him; and where he said He is upon the Throne without a ḥadd, it means what lies beyond the direction facing the Throne — above, behind, in front, right and left. The difference between the downward direction facing the Throne and the others is that the downward direction faces the Throne by established proof, and the Throne is limited, so it is permissible to describe what faces it of the Essence as a ḥadd and a direction; that is not so for the others, because they do not face anything limited, but rather extend to the right, left, above, in front and behind without end; hence none of them is described with ḥadd and direction. And the direction of the Throne faces what is opposite it of the Essence, not the whole Essence, because it has no end.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt pp. 598–599, nos. 549–552
Source, chain and authenticity
EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE on no. 550 (Ghirās edition): 'An authentic report (athar ṣaḥīḥ): narrated by al-Bukhārī in Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād (p. 8), ʿAbd Allāh in al-Sunnah (22), al-Dārimī in al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah (p. 23), Abū ʿUthmān al-Ṣābūnī in his ʿAqīdah (28), Ibn Baṭṭah in al-Ibānah (112), Ibn Mandah in al-Tawḥīd (899), al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ (2/336), Ibn Qudāmah in Ithbāt al-ʿUluww (99), by routes from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq from Ibn al-Mubārak. Ibn Taymiyyah said after citing it in al-Ḥamawiyyah (p. 269): with authentic chains; Ibn al-Qayyim said in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh (p. 134): with the most authentic chain.' (The editor's grading, quoted as his.) The second half of no. 552 (the 'facing the Throne' explanation and 'without end' in the other directions) is Abū Yaʿlā's own theory; it is reproduced in full so his view is not misrepresented, and it is not the position of Ibn Taymiyyah, who explains the negation as negation of creatures' comprehension .
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah:
[Ibn Taymiyyah, on Abū Yaʿlā's explanation:] What he mentioned in interpreting Aḥmad's words is not correct; rather Aḥmad's words are as he [Abū Yaʿlā] said at first: where he negated it [the ḥadd], he negated the delimiter's delimiting of Him and [creatures'] knowledge of His ḥadd; and where he affirmed it, he affirmed it in Himself. The word ḥadd is said of the reality of the delimited thing — its description, or its extent, or both — and is said of the knowledge and the statement that indicate the delimited thing.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah 3/736
Source, chain and authenticity
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This is the single most important text for the ḥadd question in this post, because it contains (a) both of Aḥmad's reports, the affirming and the negating, (b) Aḥmad's own Qurʾānic justification ('ḥāffīn… muḥdiqīn'), and (c) a Ḥanbalī reconciliation.
Al-Harawī, Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn
Al-Harawī said in Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn:
The second degree: letting the report run according to its apparent sense (ijrāʾ al-khabar ʿalā ẓāhirih): that the reported signs of the tawḥīd of the common believers remain upon their apparent senses — one does not take on probing into them arbitrarily, nor contrive a reinterpretation (taʾwīl) for them, nor go beyond their apparent senses into likening (tamthīl), nor claim a comprehension (idrāk) or conception (tawahhum) of them.
al-Harawī, Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn p. 40. Commentary: Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn 2/337
Source, chain and authenticity
Context: this is the second of three degrees of the station of veneration (taʿẓīm) in a Sufi manual of spiritual stations. 'The tawḥīd of the common folk' is al-Harawī's own technical term for the first of his three levels of tawḥīd.
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لَا خوفًا من الْعقُوبَة فَيكون خُصُومَة للنَّفس
وَلَا طلبا لمثوبة فَيكون مسترقا للأجرة
وَلَا شَاهدا للْجدّ فَيكون متدينا بالمراياة
فَإِن هَذِه الْأَوْصَاف كلهَا شعب من عبَادَة النَّفس
والدرجة الثَّانِيَة إِجْرَاء الْخَبَر على ظَاهره وَهُوَ أَن يبْقى أَعْلَام تَوْحِيد الْعَامَّة الخبرية على ظواهرها لَا يتَحَمَّل الْبَحْث عَنْهَا تعسفا وَلَا يتَكَلَّف لَهَا تَأْوِيلا وَلَا يتَجَاوَز ظواهرها تمثيلا وَلَا يَدعِي عَلَيْهَا إدراكا أَو توهما
والدرجة الثَّالِثَة صِيَانة الانبساط أَن تشوبه جرْأَة وصيانة السرُور أَن يداخله أَمن وصيانة الشُّهُود أَن يُعَارضهُ سَبَب
بَاب الْإِخْلَاص
قَالَ الله ﷿ أَلا لله الدّين الْخَالِص
الْإِخْلَاص تصفية الْعَمَل من كل شوب
وَهُوَ على ثَلَاث دَرَجَات
Exact force: al-Harawī lays down four prohibitions — no arbitrary probing, no taʾwīl, no tamthīl, no claim to comprehend — while requiring the reports to remain on their ẓāhir. That is ithbāt with tafwīḍ al-kayf, and it explicitly excludes taʾwīl. Use with its context (a Sufi manual) and with Ibn al-Qayyim's commentary.
Al-Harawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd
Al-Harawī reported in al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd:
١٦ - حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالب أنبا الرفا ثَنَا مُبشر بْنُ
مُوسَى ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ ثَنَا سُفْيَانُ ثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ أَوْسٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ عَبْدَ اللهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ﵁ يَقُولُ
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ عَلَى مَنَابِرَ مِنْ نُورٍ عَنْ يَمِينِ الرَّحْمَنِ ﷿ وَكِلْتَا يَدَيْهِ يَمِينٌ
(16) Chapter: Affirming the directions (al-jihāt) for Allah, Mighty and Majestic. 16 — ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib [a later narrator of that name] narrated to us: al-Raffāʾ informed us: Mubashshir ibn Mūsā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr [al-Ḥumaydī] narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār narrated to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Aws informed me that he heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr (may Allah be pleased with him) say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The just will be upon pulpits of light on the right of the Most Merciful, Mighty and Majestic — and both His hands are right.”
al-Harawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd pp. 60–61, no. 16
Source, chain and authenticity
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- (١٦) بَابُ إِثْبَاتِ الْجِهَاتِ لِلَّهِ ﷿
١٦ - حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالب أنبا الرفا ثَنَا مُبشر بْنُ
مُوسَى ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ ثَنَا سُفْيَانُ ثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ أَوْسٍ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ عَبْدَ اللهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو ﵁ يَقُولُ
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِنَّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ عَلَى مَنَابِرَ مِنْ نُورٍ عَنْ يَمِينِ الرَّحْمَنِ ﷿ وَكِلْتَا يَدَيْهِ يَمِينٌ
- (١٧) بَابُ إِثْبَاتِ الْوَجْهِ لِلَّهِ ﷿
١٧ - أَخْبَرَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ عَمَّارٍ الْإِمَامُ ثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَدِيٍّ ثَنَا حَاتِمُ بْنُ مَحْبُوبٍ ثَنَا عَبْدُ الْجَبَّار ثَنَا سُفْيَان قَالَ سمعناه مِنِ ابْنِ عَجْلَانَ عَنْ عَوْنِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ﵁ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ (مَنْ قَالَ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَقَالَ مَرَّةً مَنْ قَالَ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَلَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَلَا حَوْلَ
Exact force: al-Harawī's chapter heading affirms 'directions' (plural) for Allah, and his proof-text is 'on the right of the Most Merciful'. This is evidence that he uses jiha in an affirmative sense; it is not by itself a proof of ʿuluww.
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, Ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd
Ibn al-Zāghūnī said in al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd:
—
(١) سقطت من (ط). (٢) في (ط) بإضافة الباري. (٣) سقطت من (ط).
… [words covered by the creator's label] … [whether] by it is meant place and direction, or subjugation and dominance (as we have explained). It is impossible that by His saying “Then He rose over the Throne” subjugation and dominance be meant, because the one overpowered is something mighty in itself and hard to resist, whereas the Throne — in relation to the Creator, exalted is His power — has no dominance and no strength, for it is His making and His product; so ascribing dominance and subjugation to it is far-fetched. Thus it remains that He meant by it direction and place, nothing else. [Editor's notes: (1) dropped in MS (ṭ); (2) in (ṭ): 'bi-iḍāfat al-Bārī'; (3) dropped in (ṭ).]
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd, p. 334
The argument (strengthened, faithful): Ibn al-Zāghūnī eliminates the reading istawlā/qahr for istiwāʾ by an argument from the meaning of 'overpowering': overpowering presupposes a resisting counterpart, and the Throne, being Allah's creation, offers no resistance; so 'overpowered the Throne' attributes to the Throne a strength it does not have. With the two candidate meanings he has set up (place/direction or overpowering), only the first remains.
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, Ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā said in Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn:
The people of hadith — the Ashʿarīs among them — have agreed upon accepting these hadiths: some of them passed them on as they came, namely the people of hadith (aṣḥāb al-ḥadīth), and some of them interpreted them, namely the Ashʿarīs; and their interpreting them is an acceptance of them on their part, since had they been false in their view they would have discarded them as they discarded all other false reports. It has been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: “My Ummah will not agree upon an error or upon misguidance.” What we have mentioned — belief in the reports of the attributes without taʿṭīl, without tashbīh, without tafsīr and without taʾwīl — is the position of the Salaf from first to last, and it is what the Commander of the Faithful al-Qādir (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned in al-Risālah al-Qādiriyyah, in which he said: “Whatever Allah, Glorified is He, described Himself with, or His Messenger ﷺ described Him with, is an attribute of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in its reality (ʿalā ḥaqīqatih), not by way of metaphor (lā ʿalā sabīl al-majāz).”
Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn, 3/391; same text in the al-Fiqī edition 2/210
Source, chain and authenticity
Editor's variants: (ṭ) reads 'ʿulamāʾ ahl…' for 'ahl'; (ṭ) 'aqarrahā' for 'amarrahā'. Editor refers the 'lā tajtamiʿ ummatī' hadith to Ibn Ḥajar, al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr 3/141.
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وَقَدْ أَجْمَعَ أَهْلُ (¬٢) الحَدِيْثِ - والأشْعَرِيَّةُ مِنْهِم - على قَبُولِ هَذِهِ الأحَادِيْثِ، فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ أَمرَّهَا (¬٣) عَلَى مَا جَاءَتْ وهم أَصْحَابُ الحَدِيْثِ، ومِنْهُم مَنْ تَأَوَّلَهَا، وهُم الأشْعَرِيَّةُ، وتَأْوِيْلِهِمْ إِيَّاهَا قَبُوْلٌ مِنْهُم لَهَا، إِذْ لَوْ كَانَتْ عندَهم بَاطِلةً لاطَّرَحُوْهَا، كَمَا اطَّرَحُوا سَائرَ الأخْبَارِ البَاطِلَةِ، وقد رُوِيَ عن النَّبِي ﷺ أَنَّه قَالَ (¬٤): "أُمَّتِي لَا تَجْتَمعُ عَلَى خَطَأٍ ولَا ضَلالَةٍ". ومَا ذَكَرْنَاه من الإيْمَانِ بأَخْبَارِ الصِّفَاتِ من غَيْرِ تَعْطِيْلٍ، ولا تَشْبيْهٍ ولا تَفْسِيْرٍ وَلا تَأْوِيْلٍ هو قولُ السَّلَفِ بَدْءًا وعَوْدًا، وهو الَّذِي ذَكَرَهُ أَمِيْرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ القَادِرُ - رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِ - في "الرِّسَالَةِ القَادِرِيَّة" قَالَ فِيْهَا: "وَمَا وَصَفَ اللهُ - سُبْحَانَهُ - بِهِ نَفْسَهُ، أَوَ وَصَفَهُ بِهِ رَسُوْلُ الله ﷺ: فهو صِفَاتُ اللهِ ﷿ علَى حَقِيْقَتِهِ، لَا عَلَى سَبِيْلِ المَجَازِ". وعَلَى هَذَا الاعتِقَادُ جَمَعَ أَمْيِرُ المُؤْمِنِيْنَ القَائِمُ بَأَمْرِ اللهِ - رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عليه - مَنْ حَضَرَهُ مَعَ الوَالِدِ السَّعِيْدِ من عُلَمَاءِ الوَقْتِ، وزَاهِدُهُمْ أَبُو الحَسَنِ القَزْوِيْنِيُّ سنةَ اثْنَتَيْن
The key sentence is the Qādirī Creed's 'ʿalā ḥaqīqatih lā ʿalā sabīl al-majāz', an official creed read out under the Caliph al-Qādir (r. 381–422) and endorsed again under al-Qāʾim (as the text continues).
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
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
PRECISION: the word makān here is the OPPONENTS' inference ('then you have affirmed a place for Him'), reported by Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī, whom al-Dhahabī elsewhere criticises for unreliability in what he reports . ʿAbd al-Ghanī's own reported words are: 'I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent' and 'Allah was when there was no place, and He is not today as He was'.
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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.
Use: (1) ʿAbd al-Ghanī's reported statement on ḥaqīqat al-nuzūl, which Ibn Rajab endorses ; (2) the 'He is not today as He was' statement, which his opponents read as affirming makān, and which Ibn Rajab treats with 'tafṣīl' . Do not present makān as ʿAbd al-Ghanī's own word on this evidence.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī said in al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād:
ومنكر أن يكون الله في جهة العلو بعد هذه الآيات والأحاديث مخالف لكتاب الله، منكر لسنة رسول الله.
١١ ـ وقال مالك بن أنس: الله في السماء، وعلمه في كل مكان لا يخلو من علمه مكان
On this question there are proofs from the Book and the Sunnah whose mention would lengthen the book. Whoever denies that Allah is in the direction of highness (fī jihat al-ʿuluww) after these verses and hadiths is opposing the Book of Allah and denying the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. 11 — Mālik ibn Anas said: Allah is in the heaven, and His knowledge is in every place; no place is devoid of His knowledge.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād p. 94
Source, chain and authenticity
Explicit use of 'jihat al-ʿuluww' by a major Ḥanbalī ḥāfiẓ, with the judgement that its denial opposes Book and Sunnah. Strong, unambiguous evidence.
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, Ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in Local
Ibn al-Zāghūnī said in al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in local:
—
(١) من هنا موجود في (ط).
(٢) اختلف المتكلمون في نسبة الحد إلى الله تعالى: فنفاه الأشا[عرة] … الله تعالى واستواؤه على العرش. وأئمة السلف على إثبا[ت] … والدارمي وابن المبارك وغيرهم. قال الدارمي: والله تعالى له [حد لا يعلمه أحد غيره، ولا يجوز لأحد أن] يتوهم لحده غاية في نفسه ولكن نؤمن بالحد ونكل علم ذلك [إلى الله] … وقد اتفقت كلمة المسلمين والكافرين [على أن الله في السماء …] الجهمية فكل أحد أعلم بالله وبمكانه من الجهمية. وقال الـ[قاضي أبو يعلى …] تعالى محمول على معنيين: أحدهما: على معنى أنه تعالى [في جهة مخصوصة وليس هو ذاهباً في] الجهات الستة بل هو خارج العالم متميز عن خلقه منفصل [عنهم … والثاني:] أنه على صفة يبين بها من غيره ويتميز ولهذا يسمى البواب [حداداً] … راجع الدارمي: رد الدارمي على المريسي: (ص ٢٦، ٢٧) … (١/ ٤٣٦، ٤٣٧).
So we say: Know that the decisive proof has shown the existence of the Creator and His being established as an Essence in the full reality of affirmation; and that He cannot touch creatures, nor can creatures touch Him; and that there must be a separation (faṣl) between Him and His creation which precludes the possibility of His touching bodies and atoms and which entails His being by Himself (infirāduhu bi-nafsih). And this very thing is the ḥadd and the end (nihāyah). Those inexperienced people who have no expertise are deceived only by the difficulty of ascribing ḥadd, extremity and end to Him, Exalted is He, while they acknowledge that He does not touch creation nor does it touch Him, and that He is distinct by His Essence, by Himself, separate from His creation, exalted above contact and mixing — and this is a contradiction on their part in creed… [Editor's footnote (2): The theologians differed over ascribing ḥadd to Allah: the Ashʿarīs negated it… The imams of the Salaf affirmed… al-Dārimī, Ibn al-Mubārak and others. Al-Dārimī said: Allah has a ḥadd that none knows but He, and no one may imagine an extremity of His ḥadd in himself; rather we believe in the ḥadd and entrust its knowledge to Allah… The word of Muslims and disbelievers has agreed… so everyone knows Allah and His place better than the Jahmiyyah. And al-Qāḍī [Abū Yaʿlā] said … it is understood in two senses … See al-Dārimī, al-Radd ʿalā al-Marīsī pp. 26–27; … 1/436–437.]
Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in local
Source, chain and authenticity
Footnote (1) 'from here it is present in (ṭ)' marks a manuscript boundary at 'al-ḥadd'.
Accepting the separation while rejecting the word is, he argues, a contradiction.
Ibn Qudāmah, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād
Ibn Qudāmah said in Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād:
ومن السنة، قول النبي ﷺ: «ينزل ربنا ﵎ كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا» (١) وقوله: «يعجب ربك من الشاب ليست له صبوة» (٢) وقوله: «يضحك الله إلى رجلين قتل أحدهما الآخر ثم يدخلان الجنة» (٣) فهذا وما أشبهه مما صح سنده وعدلت رواته، نؤمن به، ولا نرده ولا نجحده ولا نتأوله بتأويل يخالف
ظاهره، ولا نشبهه بصفات المخلوقين، ولا بسمات المحدثين، ونعلم أن الله ﷾ لا شبيه له ولا نظير ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١] وكل ما تخيل في الذهن أو خطر بالبال فإن الله تعالى بخلافه.
Among the verses of the attributes is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “And there will remain the Face of your Lord” [al-Raḥmān 55:27]; His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: “Rather, both His hands are outstretched” [al-Māʾidah 5:64]; His saying, informing about ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) that he said: “You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself” [5:116]; His saying, Glorified is He: “And your Lord comes” [al-Fajr 89:22]; His saying: “Do they await anything except that Allah should come to them” [al-Baqarah 2:210]; His saying: “Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him” [5:119]; His saying: “He loves them and they love Him” [5:54]; His saying about the disbelievers: “And Allah is angry with them” [al-Fatḥ 48:6]; His saying: “They followed what angered Allah” [Muḥammad 47:28]; His saying: “Allah disliked their being sent forth” [al-Tawbah 9:46]. And from the Sunnah: the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: “Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven”; his saying: “Your Lord marvels at a youth who has no youthful inclination”; and his saying: “Allah laughs at two men, one of whom kills the other, and both enter Paradise.” This and whatever resembles it, of what has an authentic chain and trustworthy narrators, we believe in; we do not reject it, nor deny it, nor interpret it with an interpretation that contradicts its apparent sense (ẓāhir), nor liken it to the attributes of creatures or the marks of originated things. We know that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has no likeness and no equal: “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” [al-Shūrā 42:11]; and everything imagined in the mind or occurring to thought, Allah, Exalted is He, is other than it.
Ibn Qudāmah, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād pp. 10–11
Source, chain and authenticity
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[ذكر بعض الآيات والأحاديث الواردة في الصفات]
فمما جاء من آيات الصفات قول الله ﷿: ﴿وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ﴾ [الرحمن: ٢٧] وقوله ﷾: ﴿بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ﴾ [المائدة: ٦٤] وقوله تعالى إخبارا عن عيسى ﵇ أنه قال: ﴿تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ﴾ [المائدة: ١١٦] وقوله سبحانه: ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ﴾ [الفجر: ٢٢] وقوله تعالى: ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠] وقوله تعالى: ﴿رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ﴾ [المائدة: ١١٩] وقوله تعالى: ﴿يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ﴾ [المائدة: ٥٤] وقوله تعالى في الكفار: ﴿وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ﴾ [الفتح: ٦] وقوله تعالى: ﴿اتَّبَعُوا مَا أَسْخَطَ اللَّهَ﴾ [محمد: ٢٨] وقوله تعالى: ﴿كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ﴾ [التوبة: ٤٦]
ومن السنة، قول النبي ﷺ: «ينزل ربنا ﵎ كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا» (١) وقوله: «يعجب ربك من الشاب ليست له صبوة» (٢) وقوله: «يضحك الله إلى رجلين قتل أحدهما الآخر ثم يدخلان الجنة» (٣) فهذا وما أشبهه مما صح سنده وعدلت رواته، نؤمن به، ولا نرده ولا نجحده ولا نتأوله بتأويل يخالف
ظاهره، ولا نشبهه بصفات المخلوقين، ولا بسمات المحدثين، ونعلم أن الله ﷾ لا شبيه له ولا نظير ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١] وكل ما تخيل في الذهن أو خطر بالبال فإن الله تعالى بخلافه.
ومن ذلك قوله تعالى: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ [طه: ٥] وقوله تعالى: ﴿أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾ [الملك: ١٦] وقول النبي ﷺ: «ربنا الله الذي في السماء تقدس اسمك» (١) «وقال للجارية: أين الله؟ قالت: في السماء. قال: أعتقها فإنها مؤمنة» رواه مسلم، ومالك بن أنس، وغيرهما من الأئمة. وقال النبي ﷺ لحصين: «كم إلها تعبد؟ قال سبعة، ستة في الأرض وواحدا في السماء. قال من لرغبتك ورهبتك؟ قال الذي في السماء، قال فاترك الستة واعبد الذي في السماء،
Exact force: 'wa-lā nataʾawwaluhu bi-taʾwīl yukhālifu ẓāhirah': Ibn Qudāmah (d. 620) rejects interpretation contrary to the ẓāhir and rejects likening. 'wa-mā ashkala min dhālik wajaba ithbātuhu lafẓan wa-tark al-taʿarruḍ li-maʿnāh'). Those must be quoted and answered , not omitted.
Ibn Qudāmah, Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97
Ibn Qudāmah said in Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97:
٩٤ - قُلْنَا نَحن لم نتأول شَيْئا وَحمل هَذِه اللفظات على هَذِه الْمعَانِي لَيْسَ بِتَأْوِيل لِأَن التَّأْوِيل صرف اللَّفْظ عَن ظَاهره وَهَذِه الْمعَانِي هِيَ الظَّاهِر من هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ بِدَلِيل أَنه الْمُتَبَادر إِلَى الأفهام مِنْهَا
٩٥ - وَظَاهر اللَّفْظ هُوَ مَا يسْبق إِلَى الْفَهم مِنْهُ حَقِيقَة كَانَ أَو مجَازًا وَلذَلِك كَانَ ظَاهر الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة كاسم الراوية والظعينة وَغَيرهمَا من الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة فَإِن ظَاهر هَذَا الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة وصرفها إِلَى الْحَقِيقَة يكون تَأْوِيلا يحْتَاج إِلَى دَلِيل وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَلْفَاظ الَّتِي لَهَا عرف شَرْعِي وَحَقِيقَة لغوية كَالْوضُوءِ وَالطَّهَارَة وَالصَّلَاة وَالصَّوْم وَالزَّكَاة وَالْحج إِنَّمَا ظَاهرهَا الْعرف الشَّرْعِيّ دون الْحَقِيقَة اللُّغَوِيَّة
٩٦ - وَإِذا تقرر هَذَا فالمتبادر إِلَى الْفَهم من قَوْلهم الله مَعَك أَي بِالْحِفْظِ والكلاءة وَلذَلِك قَالَ الله تَعَالَى فِيمَا أخبر عَن نبيه ﴿إِذْ يَقُول لصَاحبه لَا تحزن إِن الله مَعنا﴾ [التَّوْبَة ٤٠] وَقَالَ لمُوسَى ﴿إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أسمع وَأرى﴾ [طه ٤٦] وَلَو أَرَادَ أَنه بِذَاتِهِ مَعَ كل أحد لم يكن لَهُم بذلك اخْتِصَاص لوُجُوده فِي حق غَيرهم كوجوده فيهم وَلم يكن ذَلِك مُوجبا لنفي الْحزن عَن أبي بكر وَلَا عِلّة لَهُ
٩٧ - فَعلم أَن ظَاهر هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ هُوَ مَا حملت عَلَيْهِ فَلم يكن تَأْوِيلا ثمَّ لَو كَانَ تَأْوِيلا فَمَا نَحن تأولنا وَإِنَّمَا السّلف رَحْمَة الله عَلَيْهِم الَّذِي ثَبت صوابهم وَوَجَب اتباعهم هم الَّذين تأولوه
93 — If it is said: “You have yourselves interpreted verses and reports, saying of His saying, ‘And He is with you wherever you are’ [al-Ḥadīd 57:4], i.e. by knowledge, and the like of these verses and reports; so what binds us binds you.” 94 — We say: We have not interpreted anything. Taking these words in these meanings is not taʾwīl, because taʾwīl is diverting a word from its apparent sense (ẓāhir), and these meanings are the apparent sense of these words, as shown by their being what first comes to mind from them. 95 — The apparent sense of a word is what first comes to the understanding from it, whether literal (ḥaqīqah) or figurative (majāz). Hence the apparent sense of customary nouns is the figurative rather than the literal, like the nouns al-rāwiyah and al-ẓaʿīnah and other customary nouns: their apparent sense is the figurative rather than the literal, and turning them to the literal would be a taʾwīl needing proof. Likewise words that have a legal-customary usage and a linguistic literal sense, such as wuḍūʾ, ṭahārah, ṣalāt, ṣawm, zakāt and ḥajj: their apparent sense is the legal usage, not the linguistic literal meaning. 96 — Once this is established: what first comes to the understanding from their saying “Allah is with you” is: by protection and guardianship. That is why Allah said, informing about His Prophet: “When he said to his companion: Do not grieve, Allah is with us” [al-Tawbah 9:40], and He said to Moses: “I am with you both, I hear and I see” [Ṭā Hā 20:46]. Had He meant that He is with everyone by His Essence, they would have had no special distinction in it, since it would hold for others as it holds for them, and it would not have necessitated removing grief from Abū Bakr, nor been a reason for it. 97 — So it is known that the apparent sense of these words is what they were taken to mean; hence it was not taʾwīl. Then, even if it were taʾwīl, we did not interpret it; rather the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them), whose correctness is established and whom it is obligatory to follow, are the ones who interpreted it.
Ibn Qudāmah, Dhamm al-Taʾwīl §§93–97, p. 45
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٩٤ - قُلْنَا نَحن لم نتأول شَيْئا وَحمل هَذِه اللفظات على هَذِه الْمعَانِي لَيْسَ بِتَأْوِيل لِأَن التَّأْوِيل صرف اللَّفْظ عَن ظَاهره وَهَذِه الْمعَانِي هِيَ الظَّاهِر من هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ بِدَلِيل أَنه الْمُتَبَادر إِلَى الأفهام مِنْهَا
٩٥ - وَظَاهر اللَّفْظ هُوَ مَا يسْبق إِلَى الْفَهم مِنْهُ حَقِيقَة كَانَ أَو مجَازًا وَلذَلِك كَانَ ظَاهر الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة كاسم الراوية والظعينة وَغَيرهمَا من الْأَسْمَاء الْعُرْفِيَّة فَإِن ظَاهر هَذَا الْمجَاز دون الْحَقِيقَة وصرفها إِلَى الْحَقِيقَة يكون تَأْوِيلا يحْتَاج إِلَى دَلِيل وَكَذَلِكَ الْأَلْفَاظ الَّتِي لَهَا عرف شَرْعِي وَحَقِيقَة لغوية كَالْوضُوءِ وَالطَّهَارَة وَالصَّلَاة وَالصَّوْم وَالزَّكَاة وَالْحج إِنَّمَا ظَاهرهَا الْعرف الشَّرْعِيّ دون الْحَقِيقَة اللُّغَوِيَّة
٩٦ - وَإِذا تقرر هَذَا فالمتبادر إِلَى الْفَهم من قَوْلهم الله مَعَك أَي بِالْحِفْظِ والكلاءة وَلذَلِك قَالَ الله تَعَالَى فِيمَا أخبر عَن نبيه ﴿إِذْ يَقُول لصَاحبه لَا تحزن إِن الله مَعنا﴾ [التَّوْبَة ٤٠] وَقَالَ لمُوسَى ﴿إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أسمع وَأرى﴾ [طه ٤٦] وَلَو أَرَادَ أَنه بِذَاتِهِ مَعَ كل أحد لم يكن لَهُم بذلك اخْتِصَاص لوُجُوده فِي حق غَيرهم كوجوده فيهم وَلم يكن ذَلِك مُوجبا لنفي الْحزن عَن أبي بكر وَلَا عِلّة لَهُ
٩٧ - فَعلم أَن ظَاهر هَذِه الْأَلْفَاظ هُوَ مَا حملت عَلَيْهِ فَلم يكن تَأْوِيلا ثمَّ لَو كَانَ تَأْوِيلا فَمَا نَحن تأولنا وَإِنَّمَا السّلف رَحْمَة الله عَلَيْهِم الَّذِي ثَبت صوابهم وَوَجَب اتباعهم هم الَّذين تأولوه فَإِن ابْن عَبَّاس وَالضَّحَّاك ومالكا وسُفْيَان وَكَثِيرًا من الْعلمَاء قَالُوا فِي قَوْله ﴿وَهُوَ مَعكُمْ﴾ أَي علمه ثمَّ قد ثَبت
This is Ibn Qudāmah's definition of ẓāhir and taʾwīl, the key to the whole ẓāhir/tafwīḍ debate: ẓāhir = what first comes to mind from the word in its context (which may be a figurative or customary sense); taʾwīl = diverting from that. On this definition, 'with you' = by knowledge/protection is the ẓāhir, not a taʾwīl, so the Atharī position is consistent.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
And He informed about Pharaoh that he said: “O Hāmān, build for me a tower that I may reach the ways — the ways of the heavens — and look upon the God of Moses; and indeed I think him a liar” [Ghāfir 40:36–37], meaning: I think Moses a liar (in [saying] that Allah, his God, is in the heaven). The one who opposes [us] in this question (has denied this), claiming that Moses lied in this, by way of (certainty) and conviction — in opposition to the Lord of the worlds, charging His truthful, trustworthy Prophet with error, and abandoning the way of the Companions, the Successors, the earlier imams and all of creation. We ask Allah, Exalted is He, to protect us from innovations by His mercy, and grant us success in following His Sunnah.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww p. 65
Source, chain and authenticity
Words in parentheses are the editor's insertions/variants (marked in the edition with footnotes 8–11).
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Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
Allah, Exalted is He, described Himself with highness (ʿuluww) in the heaven; Muḥammad, the Seal of the Prophets, described Him with that; all the scholars — the God-fearing Companions and the imams among the jurists — agreed upon it; the reports of it have reached the degree of mass-transmission (tawātur) in a way that yields certainty; Allah, Exalted is He, united the hearts of the Muslims upon it and made it ingrained in the nature of all creation: you see them, when distress befalls them, glancing at the heaven with their eyes, raising their hands towards it in supplication, awaiting relief from their Lord, and saying so with their tongues. None denies that except an innovator extreme in his innovation, or one led astray by (blind imitation) and following him upon his misguidance. In this treatise I mention some of the reports that have reached me on this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his Companions and the imams who (followed) his Sunnah, in a way that yields decisive certainty of its authenticity from them, and shows the mass-transmission of the narration of it from them, so that the believers who come upon it increase in faith, and the one to whom it was hidden is alerted, until it becomes as though he saw it with his own eyes, and so that it becomes a proof and demonstration for the one holding fast to the Sunnah.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww p. 63, introduction
Source, chain and authenticity
This introduction is the same one Ibn al-Qayyim quotes in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh when attributing 'Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww' to Ibn Qudāmah .
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(رب يسر وأعن بمنك ورحمتك) (١)
﷽
الحمد لله الذي علا في سمائه، وجلا باليقين قلوب أوليائه، وخار لهم في قدره وبارك لهم في قضائه، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، شهادة مؤمن بلقائه، وأشهد أن محمدا عبده ورسوله وخاتم أنبيائه. أما بعد:
فإن الله تعالى وصف نفسه بالعلو في السماء، ووصفه بذلك محمد خاتم الأنبياء، وأجمع على ذلك جميع العلماء من الصحابة الأتقياء والأئمة من الفقهاء، وتوارترت الأخبار بذلك على وجه حصل به اليقين، وجمع الله تعالى عليه قلوب المسلمين، وجعله مغروزا في طباع الخلق أجمعين، فتراهم عند نزول الكرب بهم يلحظون السماء بأعينهم، ويرفعون نحوها للدعاء أيديهم (٢) ، وينتظرون مجيء الفرج من ربهم، وينطقون بذلك بألسنتهم لا ينكر ذلك إلا مبتدع غال في بدعته، أم مفتون (بتقليده) (٣) واتباعه على ضلالته، وأنا ذاكر في الجزء بعض بلغني من الأخبار في ذلك عن رسول الله ﷺ، وصحابته والأئمة (المقتدين) (٤) بسنته على وجه يحصل القطع واليقين بصحة ذلك عنهم، ويعلم تواتر الرواية بوجوده منهم، ليزداد من وقف عليه (٥) من المؤمنين إيمانا وينتبه من خفي عليه ذلك، حتى يصير كالمشاهد له عيانا، ويصير للمتمسك بالسنة حجة وبرهانا.
واعلم -رحمك الله- أنه ليس من شرط صحة التواتر الذي يحصل به اليقين
The Pharaoh argument, stated precisely: Pharaoh's attempt to 'look upon the God of Moses' by building upward, and his calling Moses a liar about it, presuppose that Moses had told him his God is above. So the denier of ʿuluww agrees with Pharaoh's verdict on Moses' claim. Ibn Qudāmah's second argument is from fiṭrah: the universal, untaught turning of hearts, eyes and hands upward in distress.
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
Ibn Qudāmah said in Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww:
سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ فَيَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ، مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ" وَقَالَ (١) : هَذَا حَدِيثٌ ثَابِتٌ مِنْ جِهَةِ النَّقْلِ، صَحِيحُ الأَسَانِيدِ، لَا يَخْتَلِفُ أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ فِي صِحَّتِهِ، وَهُوَ مَنْقُولٌ مِنْ طُرُقٍ سِوَى هَذِهِ مِنْ أَخْبَارِ الْعُدُولِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ (٢) ، وَفِيهِ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى فِي السَّمَاءِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ، مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ، كَمَا قَالَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَهُوَ مِنْ حُجَّتِهِمْ عَلَى الْمُعْتَزِلَةِ فِي قَوْلِهِمْ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ، قَالَ: وَالدَّلِيلُ عَلَى صِحَّةِ قَوْلِ أَهْلِ الْحَقِّ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ ﷿: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى
الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾
97 — Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr cited the hadith of Mālik in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, from Ibn Shihāb, from Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Agharr, both from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven when a third of the night remains, and says: Who will call upon Me that I may answer him? Who will ask Me that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness that I may forgive him?” And he said: This hadith is established in transmission, with authentic chains; the people of hadith do not differ over its authenticity; it is transmitted by other routes besides these, in reports of upright narrators from the Prophet ﷺ. In it is proof that Allah, Exalted is He, is in the heaven, upon the Throne, above seven heavens, as the Jamāʿah said, and it is among their proofs against the Muʿtazilah in their saying that Allah is in every place. He said: And the proof of the correctness of the position of the people of truth is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.”
Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww pp. 185–186 no. 97, quoting Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (on the hadith of nuzūl)
Source, chain and authenticity
ATTRIBUTION: the argument 'in it is proof that Allah is in the heaven upon the Throne' is Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's (d. 463, Mālikī), quoted by Ibn Qudāmah.
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٩٧- وَذَكَرَ أَبُو عُمَرَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْبَرِّ حَدِيثَ مَالِكٍ فِي الْمُوَطَّإِ (عَنِ) (٣) ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، وَأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الأَغَرِّ، جَمِيعًا عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ﵁ (٤) أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ: "يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا ﵎ إِلَى
سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا، حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ فَيَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ، مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ" وَقَالَ (١) : هَذَا حَدِيثٌ ثَابِتٌ مِنْ جِهَةِ النَّقْلِ، صَحِيحُ الأَسَانِيدِ، لَا يَخْتَلِفُ أَهْلُ الْحَدِيثِ فِي صِحَّتِهِ، وَهُوَ مَنْقُولٌ مِنْ طُرُقٍ سِوَى هَذِهِ مِنْ أَخْبَارِ الْعُدُولِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ (٢) ، وَفِيهِ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى فِي السَّمَاءِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ، مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ، كَمَا قَالَتِ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَهُوَ مِنْ حُجَّتِهِمْ عَلَى الْمُعْتَزِلَةِ فِي قَوْلِهِمْ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ مَكَانٍ، قَالَ: وَالدَّلِيلُ عَلَى صِحَّةِ قَوْلِ أَهْلِ الْحَقِّ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ ﷿: ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى
الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ (١) ، وَقَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ﴿ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ﴾ (٢) ، وَقُوْلُهُ سُبْحَانَهُ: ﴿أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾ (٣) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ﴾ (٤) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ﴾ (٥) ، وَقَالَ: ﴿يُدَبِّرُ الأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in al-Tamhīd:
And in it is proof that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is in the heaven, upon the Throne, above seven heavens, as the Jamāʿah said; and it is among their proofs against the Muʿtazilah and the Jahmiyyah in their saying that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is in every place and is not upon the Throne.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (Maghribiyyah ed.) 7/129 = ed. Bashshār 5/140, on the ḥadīth of the Descent (Mālik ← al-Zuhrī ← al-Aʿraj and Abū Salama ← Abū Hurayra)
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Stronger as evidence than the label suggests: it is a Mālikī ḥāfiẓ, not a Ḥanbalī, arguing that nuzūl presupposes ʿuluww (descent is from above), and stating that this is the position of 'the Jamāʿah' against the Muʿtazilah. Present it under Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr's name with al-Tamhīd as the primary reference.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Minhāj al-Sunnah:
فَاللَّهُ مُنَزَّهٌ عَنِ الْحَاجَةِ إِلَى الْغَيْرِ وَإِحَاطَةِ الْغَيْرِ بِهِ وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ.
وَإِنْ أُرِيدَ بِالْمَكَانِ مَا فَوْقَ الْعَالَمِ وَمَا هُوَ الرَّبُّ فَوْقَهُ؛ قِيلَ: [إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ] (٢) إِلَّا خَالِقٌ أَوْ مَخْلُوقٌ، وَالْخَالِقُ بَائِنٌ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِ (٣) ، كَانَ هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ فَوْقَهُ شَيْءٌ.
وَإِذَا قَالَ [الْقَائِلُ] (٤) : هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ (٥) بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهُ ; فَهَذَا الْمَعْنَى حَقٌّ سَوَاءً: سَمَّيْتَ ذَلِكَ مَكَانًا أَوْ لَمْ تُسَمِّهِ.
وَإِذَا عُرِفَ الْمَقْصُودُ فَمَذْهَبُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ (٦) مَا دَلَّ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ وَالسُّنَّةُ وَاتَّفَقَ عَلَيْهِ سَلَفُ الْأُمَّةِ، وَهُوَ الْقَوْلُ (٧) الْمُطَابِقُ لِصَحِيحِ الْمَنْقُولِ وَصَرِيحِ الْمَعْقُولِ.
If it is said: “He is in a place,” in the sense of something else encompassing Him and His needing something else — then Allah is exalted above needing anything else, above being encompassed by anything else, and the like. But if by ‘place’ is meant what is above the world and what the Lord is above: it is said, [since there is nothing] but Creator and created, and the Creator is separate from the created, He is the Manifest (al-Ẓāhir) above whom there is nothing. And when [the speaker] says, “He, Glorified is He, is above His heavens, upon His Throne, separate from His creation,” this meaning is true, whether you call that a ‘place’ or do not call it so. And once the intent is known, the position of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah is what the Book and the Sunnah indicate and the Salaf of the Ummah agreed upon, and it is the position that accords with authentic transmission and clear reason.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah 2/145
Source, chain and authenticity
Bracketed words '[idhā lam yakun]' and '[al-qāʾil]' are the editor's (Rashād Sālim) restorations, marked in the edition.
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فَاللَّهُ مُنَزَّهٌ عَنِ الْحَاجَةِ إِلَى الْغَيْرِ وَإِحَاطَةِ الْغَيْرِ بِهِ وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ.
وَإِنْ أُرِيدَ بِالْمَكَانِ مَا فَوْقَ الْعَالَمِ وَمَا هُوَ الرَّبُّ فَوْقَهُ؛ قِيلَ: [إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ] (٢) إِلَّا خَالِقٌ أَوْ مَخْلُوقٌ، وَالْخَالِقُ بَائِنٌ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِ (٣) ، كَانَ هُوَ الظَّاهِرُ الَّذِي لَيْسَ فَوْقَهُ شَيْءٌ.
وَإِذَا قَالَ [الْقَائِلُ] (٤) : هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ (٥) بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهُ ; فَهَذَا الْمَعْنَى حَقٌّ سَوَاءً: سَمَّيْتَ ذَلِكَ مَكَانًا أَوْ لَمْ تُسَمِّهِ.
وَإِذَا عُرِفَ الْمَقْصُودُ فَمَذْهَبُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ (٦) مَا دَلَّ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ وَالسُّنَّةُ وَاتَّفَقَ عَلَيْهِ سَلَفُ الْأُمَّةِ، وَهُوَ الْقَوْلُ (٧) الْمُطَابِقُ لِصَحِيحِ الْمَنْقُولِ وَصَرِيحِ الْمَعْقُولِ.
[الكلام على قوله وَإِلَّا لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا]
[الرد على دليل الرافضة والمعتزلة]
وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُ: " وَإِلَّا لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا " فَمَضْمُونُهُ أَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ جِسْمًا أَوْ فِي مَكَانٍ لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا.
[فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: قَدْ بَيَّنَّا مَا يُنْفَى عَنْهُ مِنْ مَعَانِي الْجِسْمِ وَالْمَكَانِ، وَبَيَّنَّا مَا لَا يَجُوزُ نَفْيُهُ عَنْهُ، وَإِنْ سَمَّاهُ بَعْضُ النَّاسِ جِسْمًا وَمَكَانًا، لَكِنْ مَا الدَّلِيلُ عَلَى أَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ كَذَلِكَ لَكَانَ مُحْدَثًا] (٨) وَأَنْتَ (٩) لَمْ تَذْكُرْ دَلِيلًا عَلَى ذَلِكَ؟
Methodological key for the whole makān/jiha/ḥadd discussion: Ibn Taymiyyah's tafṣīl of ambiguous terms — negate the false meaning (being encompassed, needing), affirm the true meaning (above the creation, separate from it), and do not make the word itself the issue.
Al-Dashtī, Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (Ed. al-ʿUtaybī and Āl Ḥamdān
Al-Dashtī said in Ithbāt al-Ḥadd:
The fourth section: what has been narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in affirming the sitting. Many ḥadīths have been narrated on it. Some are sound and established, received by Ahl al-Sunnah with acceptance, and used as proof against the Jahmiyyah who deny the attributes. Some are weak, but are taken into account in this chapter, since they have a basis and a supporting witness from other ḥadīths. Among those ḥadīths: 1. The ḥadīth of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, in which is the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: 'And His Kursī is above the heavens and the earth, and He sits upon it.' And in a wording: 'When the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, sits upon His Kursī.' [Its takhrīj follows at no. 36.] Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (16/434): '… most of Ahl al-Sunnah accepted it … and it has many established routes to Sufyān, Isrāʾīl and others; and Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Zāghūnī compiled a juzʾ collecting its routes and discussing it in a way that negates deficiency and origination of Allah.'
al-Dashtī, Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (ed. al-ʿUtaybī and Āl Ḥamdān, 2nd ed.), p
Source, chain and authenticity
Why this is the editors' study and not al-Dashtī (d. 665): (1) the passage quotes Ibn Taymiyyah (b. 661, d. 728) from Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā; (2) the cross-reference to 'no. 36' points forward to the numbered texts of the edition; (3) the study begins on p. 7 with the editors' 'This is a fine treatise… composed in the seventh century… published for the first time' and is laid out in Bābs and Mabḥaths (Bāb 2 contents on p. 74). The ḥadīth of ʿUmar itself is graded munkar by al-Albānī (al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 866; see the second passage).
Al-Dārimī said in Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. al-Almaʿī:
[al-Dārimī, chain ending] … from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah, who said: A woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “Supplicate to Allah that He admit me to Paradise.” He extolled the Lord and said: “His Kursī encompasses the heavens and the earth, and He sits upon it; nothing of it remains over except the measure of four fingers” — and he stretched out his four fingers — “and it has a creaking like the creaking of a new saddle when one who weighs it down rides it.”
al-Dārimī, Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. al-Almaʿī, 1/426 — a primary source of the report; also al-Ḍiyāʾ, al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtārah 1/263–264
Source, chain and authenticity
GRADING FOUND: al-Albānī, al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah 2/256, no. 866: 'Munkar' . On the same page al-Albānī states that no authentic hadith establishes Allah's quʿūd on the Throne, and that the poem attributed to al-Dāraquṭnī cited by al-Dashtī in Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (1/144) has an unsound chain (Abū al-ʿIzz ibn Kādish, 'mukhalliṭ'). These are al-Albānī's judgements, quoted as his. In the Dārimī version the chain is from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khalīfah directly (mursal in this wording), whereas the ʿUmar version names ʿUmar.
The established, uncontested evidence for istiwāʾ is the Qurʾān and the ṣaḥīḥ reports; reports of julūs/quʿūd belong in a separate section with the scholars who accepted them (al-Dārimī, Abū Yaʿlā, al-Dashtī) and those who graded them weak (al-Albānī and others), each quoted.
Ibn Rajab, Fatḥ al-Bārī
Ibn Rajab said in Fatḥ al-Bārī:
وهذا هو الصحيح عن أحمد، ومن قبله من السلف، وهو قول إسحاق وغيره من الأئمة.
وكان السلف ينسبون تأويل هذه الآيات والأحاديث الصحيحة إلى الجهمية؛ لأن جهماً وأصحابه أول من أشتهر عنهم أن الله تعالى منزه عما دلت عليه هذه النصوص بأدلة العقول التي سموها أدلة قطعية هي المحكمات، وجعلوا ألفاظ الكتاب والسنة هي المتشابهات فعرضوا ما فيها على تلك الخيالات، فقبلوا ما دلت على ثبوته بزعمهم، وردوا مادلت على نفيه بزعمهم، ووافقهم على ذلك سائر طوائف أهل الكلام من المعتزلة وغيرهم.
وزعموا أن ظاهر ما يدل عليه الكتاب والسنة تشبيه وتجسيم وضلال، واشتقوا من ذلك لمن آمن بما أنزل الله على رسوله اسماء ما أنزل الله بها من سلطان، بل هي افتراء على الله، ينفرون بها عن الإيمان بالله ورسوله.
وزعموا أن ما ورد في الكتاب والسنة من ذلك – مع كثرته وأنتشاره – من باب التوسع والتجوز، وأنه يحمل على مجازات اللغة المستبعدة، وهذا من أعظم أبواب القدح في الشريعة المحكمة المطهرة، وهو من جنس حمل الباطنية نصوص الإخبار عن الغيوب كالمعاد والجنةوالنار على التوسع والمجاز دون الحقيقة، وحملهم نصوص الامروالنهي على مثل ذلك
And among them are those who affirm it and pass it on as it came, without explaining it (lā yufassiruhu), and say: it is a coming and an arrival befitting the majesty and greatness of Allah, Glorified is He. This is what is authentic from Aḥmad and those before him of the Salaf, and it is the position of Isḥāq and other imams. The Salaf used to attribute the interpretation (taʾwīl) of these authentic verses and hadiths to the Jahmiyyah, because Jahm and his followers were the first from whom it became widely known that Allah, Exalted is He, is exalted above what these texts indicate, by rational proofs which they called decisive proofs, which [they claimed] are the clear (muḥkam) [proofs], and they made the words of the Book and Sunnah the ambiguous (mutashābih); they presented what is in them to those fancies, accepting what [the texts] indicated in affirmation according to their claim, and rejecting what [the texts] indicated in negation according to their claim; and all the factions of the people of kalām, the Muʿtazilah and others, agreed with them in that. They claimed that the apparent sense of what the Book and Sunnah indicate is tashbīh, tajsīm and misguidance, and from that they derived, for whoever believes in what Allah revealed to His Messenger, names for which Allah sent down no authority — rather they are a fabrication against Allah — by which they drive people away from faith in Allah and His Messenger. And they claimed that what has come in the Book and Sunnah of that — despite its abundance and spread — is by way of extension and figurative usage, and is to be taken according to far-fetched metaphors of the language. This is among the greatest doors of attack upon the perfect, pure Sharīʿah, and it is of the same kind as the Bāṭiniyyah taking the texts that inform about the unseen — such as the Return, Paradise and the Fire — as extension and metaphor rather than reality, and their taking the texts of command and prohibition likewise.
Ibn Rajab, Fatḥ al-Bārī 7/230
Source, chain and authenticity
Ibn Rajab said in Fatḥ al-Bārī:
ولم ينه علماء السلف الصالح وأئمة الإسلام كالشافعي وأحمد وغيرهما عن الكلام وحذروا عنه، إلا خوفاً من الوقوع في مثل ذلك، ولو علم هؤلاء الأئمة أن حمل النصوص على ظاهرها كفر لوجب عليهم تبيين ذلك وتحذير الأمة منه؛ فإن ذلك من تمام نصيحة المسلمين، فكيف كان ينصحون الأمة فيما يتعلق بالاحكام العملية ويدعون نصيحتمهم فيما يتعلق بأصول الاعتقادات، هذا من أبطل الباطل.
All of this is a departure from the religion of Islam. The scholars of the righteous Salaf and the imams of Islam, such as al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad and others, did not forbid kalām and warn against it except out of fear of falling into the like of this. Had these imams known that taking the texts upon their apparent sense was disbelief, it would have been obligatory upon them to make that clear and warn the Ummah of it, for that is part of complete sincere counsel to the Muslims. How could they counsel the Ummah in what pertains to practical rulings and abandon their counsel in what pertains to the foundations of belief? This is among the most false of falsehoods.
Ibn Rajab, Fatḥ al-Bārī 7/231
Source, chain and authenticity
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ولم ينه علماء السلف الصالح وأئمة الإسلام كالشافعي وأحمد وغيرهما عن الكلام وحذروا عنه، إلا خوفاً من الوقوع في مثل ذلك، ولو علم هؤلاء الأئمة أن حمل النصوص على ظاهرها كفر لوجب عليهم تبيين ذلك وتحذير الأمة منه؛ فإن ذلك من تمام نصيحة المسلمين، فكيف كان ينصحون الأمة فيما يتعلق بالاحكام العملية ويدعون نصيحتمهم فيما يتعلق بأصول الاعتقادات، هذا من أبطل الباطل.
قال أبو عبد الرحمن السلمي الصوفي: سمعت عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن جابر السلمي يقول: سمعت محمد بن عقيل بن الأزهر الفقيه يقول: جاء رجل إلى المزني يسأله عن شيء من الكلام، فقال: أني أكره هذا، بل أنهي عنه، كما نهى عنه الشافعي؛ فإني سمعت الشافعي يقول: سئل مالك عن الكلام والتوحيد، فقالَ مالك: محال أن يظن بالنبي ﷺ أنه علم أمته الإستنجاء ولم يعلمهم التوحيد، فالتوحيد ما قاله النَّبيّ ﷺ:
((أمرت أن أقاتل الناس حتى يقولوا:
Ibn Rajab's argument from silence, strengthened: (1) the Salaf warned against kalām in detail and taught even the etiquette of istinjāʾ; (2) if the ẓāhir of the attribute-texts were tashbīh or kufr, warning against it would be the most urgent counsel; (3) no such warning exists from them — rather they attributed taʾwīl to the Jahmiyyah; (4) so the ẓāhir is not tashbīh in their view. Note: in the first passage Ibn Rajab uses 'lā yufassiruhu' for those who affirm 'a coming befitting His majesty'; this is proof that 'without tafsīr' in Salaf usage does not mean emptying the text of meaning .
Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, Ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
Ibn Rajab said in Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn:
وَأَمَا المَكَانُ فَفِيْهِ نِزَاعٌ وَتَفْصِيْلٌ، وَفِي "الصَّحِيْحَيْنِ" إِثْبَاتُ لَفْظِ المَكَانِ، وَأَمَّا الانْتِقَالُ: فَفِيْهِ جَوَابَانِ:
أحَدُهُمَا: لَا نُسَلِّمُ لُزُوْمَهُ؛ فَإِنَّ نُزُوْلَهُ لَيْسَ كَنُزُوْلِ المَخْلُوْقِيْنَ، وَلِهَذَا نُقِلَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ الأئِمَّةِ أَنَّهُ يَنْزِلُ، وَلَا يَخْلُو مِنْهُ العَرْشُ.
وَالثَّانِي: أَنَّ هَذَا مَبنِيٌّ علَى إِثْبَاتِ الأفْعَالِ الاخْتِيَارِيَّةِ، وَقِيَامُهَا بِالذَّاتِ، وَفِيْهَا قَوْلَانِ لأهْلِ الحَدِيْثِ المُتَأَخِّرِيْنَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا وَغَيْرِهِمْ.
As for his saying, “I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of descent”: if this is authentic from him, then it is true; it is like someone saying, “I do not exalt Him with an exaltation that negates the reality of His existence,” or “the reality of His speech,” or “the reality of His knowledge,” or “His hearing and seeing,” and the like. As for place (al-makān), there is dispute and detail (tafṣīl) concerning it; and in the two Ṣaḥīḥs there is the affirmation of the word makān. As for transfer (al-intiqāl), there are two answers concerning it. One: we do not concede that it is entailed, for His descent is not like the descent of creatures; hence it has been transmitted from a group of the imams that He descends while the Throne is not emptied of Him. The second: this is built upon the affirmation of volitional acts (al-afʿāl al-ikhtiyāriyyah) and their subsisting in the Essence, and on this there are two positions among the later people of hadith, among our companions and others.
Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn, 3/35
Source, chain and authenticity
The second label is accurate.
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وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُمْ: "إِنَّ الحَنْبَلِيِّ وَافَقُوا الجَمَاعَةَ" فَهَذَا إِمَّا أَنْ يَكُوْنَ صَحِيْحًا، أَوْ غَيْرَ صَحِيْحٍ، فَإِنْ كَانَ صَحِيْحًا، فَهُوَ تَقِيَّةٌ وَنفَاقٌ مِنْهُمْ، وَإِلَّا فَكَلَامُ بني نَجْمِ الدِّيْنِ الحَنْبَلِيِّ، وَكَلَامُ أَبِيْهِمْ فِي إِثْبَاتِ الصَّوْتِ كَثيْرٌ مَوْجُودٌ، وَسَنَذْكُرُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللّهُ مِمَّا نَقَلَهُ النَّاصِحُ الحَنْبَلِيُّ خَاصَّةً فِي إِثْبَاتِ الَصَّوْتِ مَا نَذْكُرُهُ فِي مَوَاضِعِهِ.
وَأمَا قَوْلُهُ: "وَلَا أُنَزِّهُهُ تَنزيْهًا يَنْفِي حَقِيْقَةَ النُّزُوْلِ"، فَإِنْ صَحَّ هَذَا عَنْهُ فَهُوَ حَقٌّ، وَهُوَ كَقَوْلِ القَائلِ: لَا أُنَزِّهُهُ تَنْزِيْهًا يَنْفِي حَقِيْقَةَ وُجُوْدِهِ، أَوْ حَقِيْقَةَ كَلَامِهِ، أَوْ حَقِيْقَةَ عِلْمِهِ، أَوْ سَمْعِهِ وَبَصَرِهِ، وَنَحْوَ ذلِكَ.
وَأَمَا المَكَانُ فَفِيْهِ نِزَاعٌ وَتَفْصِيْلٌ، وَفِي "الصَّحِيْحَيْنِ" إِثْبَاتُ لَفْظِ المَكَانِ، وَأَمَّا الانْتِقَالُ: فَفِيْهِ جَوَابَانِ:
أحَدُهُمَا: لَا نُسَلِّمُ لُزُوْمَهُ؛ فَإِنَّ نُزُوْلَهُ لَيْسَ كَنُزُوْلِ المَخْلُوْقِيْنَ، وَلِهَذَا نُقِلَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ الأئِمَّةِ أَنَّهُ يَنْزِلُ، وَلَا يَخْلُو مِنْهُ العَرْشُ.
وَالثَّانِي: أَنَّ هَذَا مَبنِيٌّ علَى إِثْبَاتِ الأفْعَالِ الاخْتِيَارِيَّةِ، وَقِيَامُهَا بِالذَّاتِ، وَفِيْهَا قَوْلَانِ لأهْلِ الحَدِيْثِ المُتَأَخِّرِيْنَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا وَغَيْرِهِمْ.
وَأمَّا إِنْكَارُ إِثْبَاتِ الصَّوْتِ عَنِ الإِمَامِ الَّذِي يَنْتَمِي إِلَيْهِ الحَافِظُ، فَمِنْ
Exact force: Ibn Rajab endorses ḥaqīqat al-nuzūl unconditionally (if the attribution is sound), declines to issue a blanket ruling on makān , and reports that the question of intiqāl is an internal difference among later Atharīs. This is a model of precise statement and should be quoted as such.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah
Ibn Taymiyyah reported in Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah:
نحن نؤمن بالله ﷿ على عرشه كيف شاء وكما شاء بلا حد ولا صفة يبلغها واصف أو يحده أحد فصفات الله ﷿ منه وله وهو كما وصف نفسه لا تدركه الأبصار بحد ولا غاية وهو لايدرَك وهو يدرك الأبصار وهو عالم الغيب والشهادة علام الغيوب ولا يدركه وصف واصف وهو كما وصف نفسه وليس من الله شيء محدود ولا يبلغ علمه وقدرته أحد غلب الأشياء كلها بعلمه وقدرته وسلطانه ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير وكان الله قبل أن يكون شيء والله الأول وهو الآخر ولا يبلغ أحد حد صفاته
This which is preserved from the Salaf and the imams — the affirmation of a ḥadd for Allah in Himself — they explained along with it that the servants do not delimit Him nor comprehend Him. That is why their statements on this are not contradictory, as some people suppose: for they denied that anyone could delimit Allah, as Ḥanbal reported from him [Aḥmad] in Kitāb al-Sunnah wa-l-Miḥnah, and al-Khallāl narrated it in Kitāb al-Sunnah: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal informed me: my father Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq narrated to me, saying: My uncle [Aḥmad] said: “We believe in Allah, Mighty and Majestic, upon His Throne, however He wills and as He wills, without a ḥadd and without a description that a describer can attain or by which anyone could delimit Him. The attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, are from Him and belong to Him, and He is as He described Himself: vision does not comprehend Him with a ḥadd or an extremity, and He does not get comprehended while He comprehends all vision; He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, the All-Knower of the unseen. The description of no describer attains Him; He is as He described Himself. Nothing of Allah is limited (maḥdūd), and none attains [the extent of] His knowledge and power; He overcame all things by His knowledge, His power and His authority. ‘There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.’ Allah was before anything was; Allah is the First and He is the Last; and none attains the limit (ḥadd) of His attributes.”
Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah 3/706–707
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نحن نؤمن بالله ﷿ على عرشه كيف شاء وكما شاء بلا حد ولا صفة يبلغها واصف أو يحده أحد فصفات الله ﷿ منه وله وهو كما وصف نفسه لا تدركه الأبصار بحد ولا غاية وهو لايدرَك وهو يدرك الأبصار وهو عالم الغيب والشهادة علام الغيوب ولا يدركه وصف واصف وهو كما وصف نفسه وليس من الله شيء محدود ولا يبلغ علمه وقدرته أحد غلب الأشياء كلها بعلمه وقدرته وسلطانه ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير وكان الله قبل أن يكون شيء والله الأول وهو الآخر ولا يبلغ أحد حد صفاته فالتسليم لأمر الله والرضا بقضائه نسأل الله التوفيق والسداد إنه على كل شيء قدير
Ibn Taymiyyah's point is that every negation in it is a negation of creatures' comprehension and delimitation ('a describer can attain', 'anyone delimit', 'vision does not comprehend'), not of Allah's distinctness.
The Creed of Imām al-Ṭabarī in Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah
Al-Ṭabarī, Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah
Al-Ṭabarī said in Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah:
١٣ - فَأَخْبَرَ، جَلَّ ثَنَاؤُهُ، أَنَّهُ فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ مَكْتُوبٌ، وَأَنَّهُ مِنْ لِسَانِ مُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ مَسْمُوعٌ، وَهُوَ قُرْآنٌ وَاحِدٌ مِنْ مُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ مَسْمُوعٌ، فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ مَكْتُوبٌ، وَكَذَلِكَ هُوَ فِي الصُّدُورِ مَحْفُوظٌ، وَبِأَلْسُنِ الشُّيُوخِ وَالشَّبَابِ مَتْلُوٌّ.
⦗١٩⦘
١٤ - قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ: فَمَنْ رَوَى عَنَّا، أَوْ حَكَى عَنَّا، أَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا، فَادَّعَى أَنَّا قُلْنَا غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ فَعَلَيْهِ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ وَغَضَبُهُ، وَلَعْنَةُ اللَّاعِنَيْنِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ، لَا قَبِلَ اللَّهُ لَهُ صَرْفًا وَلَا عَدْلًا، وَهَتَكَ سِتْرَهُ، وَفَضَحَهُ عَلَى رُءُوسِ الْأَشْهَادِ يَوْمَ لَا يَنْفَعُ الظَّالِمِينَ مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ، وَلَهُمُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَلَهُمْ سُوءُ الدَّارِ
12. The first thing with which we begin to speak, in our view, is that the Qurʾān is the speech of Allah and His revelation, since it is among the meanings of His tawḥīd. The correct position on it, in our view, is that it is the speech of Allah, uncreated, however it is written, wherever it is recited and in whatever place it is read: found in heaven, or on earth where it is memorised; written in the Preserved Tablet, or inscribed on the tablets of the children of the Qurʾān schools; engraved in stone, or written on paper; preserved in the heart, or pronounced by the tongue. Whoever says otherwise, or claims that there is a Qurʾān in the earth or in the heaven other than the Qurʾān we recite with our tongues and write in our muṣḥafs, or believes otherwise in his heart, or harbours it within himself, or says it with his tongue, taking it as his religion, is a disbeliever in Allah, whose blood is lawful, who is free of Allah and Allah is free of him, by the word of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: 'Rather, it is a glorious Qurʾān, in a Preserved Tablet' [al-Burūj 21–22], and He said, and His word is the truth: 'And if one of the polytheists seeks your protection, grant him protection so that he may hear the speech of Allah' [al-Tawbah 6]. 13. So He, glorified be His praise, informed that it is written in the Preserved Tablet and that it is heard from the tongue of Muḥammad ﷺ; and it is one Qurʾān, heard from Muḥammad ﷺ, written in the Preserved Tablet, and likewise preserved in the breasts and recited by the tongues of old and young. 14. Abū Jaʿfar said: So whoever reports from us, or relates from us, or fabricates against us and claims that we said other than that, upon him be the curse of Allah and His anger, and the curse of those who curse, and of the angels and all people; may Allah accept from him neither repentance nor ransom, tear away his covering and disgrace him before the witnesses on the Day when their excuses will not benefit the wrongdoers, and theirs is the curse and theirs the evil abode.
al-Ṭabarī, Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah pp. 18–19, nos. 12–14
Source, chain and authenticity
Al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād
Al-Lālakāʾī reported in Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād:
325. ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad informed us, by reading to him, saying: al-Qāḍī Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Kāmil informed us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr said: The first thing with which we begin is the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His revelation, since it is among the meanings of His tawḥīd…
al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād 1/206 no. 325
Source, chain and authenticity
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⦗٢٠٩⦘. وَيَعْلَمُ أَنَّ رَبَّهُ هُوَ الَّذِي ﴿عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَمَا تَحْتَ الثَّرَى﴾ . فَمَنْ تَجَاوَزَ ذَلِكَ فَقَدْ خَابَ وَخَسِرَ. فَلْيُبَلِّغِ الشَّاهِدُ مِنْكُمْ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ مَنْ بَعُدَ مِنَّا فَنَأَى , أَوْ قَرُبَ فَدَنَا أَنَّ الدِّينَ الَّذِي نَدِينُ بِهِ فِي الْأَشْيَاءِ الَّتِي ذَكَرْنَاهَا مَا بَيَّنَّاهُ لَكُمْ عَلَى مَا وَصَفْنَاهُ , فَمَنْ رَوَى خِلَافَ ذَلِكَ أَوْ أَضَافَ إِلَيْنَا سِوَاهُ أَوْ نَحَلَنَا فِي ذَلِكَ قَوْلًا غَيْرَهُ فَهُوَ كَاذِبٌ , فَهُوَ مُفْتَرٍ مُعْتَدٍ مُتَخَرِّصٌ , يَبُوءُ بِإِثْمِ اللَّهِ وَسَخَطِهِ , وَعَلَيْهِ غَضَبُ اللَّهِ وَلَعْنَتُهُ فِي الدَّارَيْنِ , وَحَقٌّ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُورِدَهُ الْمَوْرِدَ الَّذِي وَعَدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ ضُرَبَاءَهُ , وَأَنْ يُحِلَّهُ الْمَحَلَّ الَّذِي أَخْبَرَ نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِلُّهُ أَمْثَالَهُ
(1) 'Narrated by al-Lālakāʾī with a sound chain': the chain is ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (by reading to him) ← al-Qāḍī Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Kāmil (al-Ṭabarī's student) ← al-Ṭabarī. The same text is also in al-Ṭabarī's own Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah , so the attribution does not rest on this chain alone. (2) 'Rejecting kalām nafsī': al-Ṭabarī (d. 310) predates the Ashʿarī school. What he rejects is 'a Qurʾān in the earth or the heaven other than the Qurʾān we recite'. That is the content of the later kalām-nafsī position, which was already held by Ibn Kullāb (d. c. 240). So the ruling applies by content.
The Creed of the Salaf in Summary, with Its Proofs
Qurʾān
Allah, the Exalted, said:
That is because Allah merges the night into the day and merges the day into the night, and because Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.
Qurʾān 22:61 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah, the Exalted, said:
He said: 'O Iblīs, what prevented you from prostrating to what I created with My two hands? Were you arrogant, or were you of the exalted?'
Qurʾān 38:75 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Qurʾān references checked against the verse texts: 22:61, 38:75, 6:54, 3:134 — correct.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah)
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah) no. 4848 reported in 6/138:
4848 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Aswad narrated to us: Ḥaramī narrated to us: Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Qatādah, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “[People] will be thrown into the Fire, and it will say, ‘Are there any more?’ until He places His Foot, and it says: ‘Enough, enough.’”
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah) no. 4848, 6/138
Source, chain and authenticity
Qurʾān references 43:55 and 98:8 correct. Numbering checked on the page: al-Bukhārī 2826 (Sulṭāniyyah 4/23) and Muslim 1890 (ed.
Qurʾān
Allah, the Exalted, said:
Originator of the heavens and the earth. He made for you mates from among yourselves, and mates among the cattle, multiplying you thereby. There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.
Qurʾān 42:11 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Al-Tirmidhī, al-Jāmiʿ (al-Risālah Ed.)
Al-Tirmidhī said in al-Jāmiʿ:
وأمَّا إذا قال كَما قال اللهُ تَعالى: يَدٌ وسَمْعٌ وبَصَرٌ، ولا يقولُ كَيفَ ولا يقولُ مِثلُ سَمْع ولا كَسَمْعٍ، فهذا لا يكون تَشْبِيهًا، وهو كما قال اللهُ تَعالى في كِتابِه: ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾
Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm said: Tashbīh is only when one says 'a hand like a hand' or 'similar to a hand', or 'hearing like hearing' or 'similar to hearing'; if he says 'hearing like hearing' or 'similar to hearing', that is tashbīh. But if he says as Allah, Exalted is He, said — hand, hearing, seeing — and does not say 'how', nor 'similar to hearing' or 'like hearing', then this is not tashbīh; it is as Allah, Exalted is He, said in His Book: 'There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.'
al-Tirmidhī, al-Jāmiʿ (al-Risālah ed.) 2/202, after hadith no. 662
Source, chain and authenticity
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هكذا رُوِي عن مالكٍ، وسُفيانَ بن عُيينةَ، وعَبد الله بن المُبَارَكِ أنهم قالوا في هذه الأحاديثِ: أمِرُّوها بِلا كَيفٍ. وهكذا قولُ أهلِ العلمِ من أهلِ السُّنَّةِ والجَماعَةِ، وأمَّا الجَهميّةُ فأنْكَرَتْ هذِهِ الرِّوايات، وقالُوا: هذا تَشْبِيهٌ.
وقد ذكَرَ اللهُ ﵎ في غيرِ مَوْضِعٍ مِن كِتابِه: اليَدَ والسَّمْعَ والبَصَرَ، فتأوَّلت الجَهْميّةُ هذِهِ الآياتِ ففَسَّرُوها على غيرِ ما فَسَّرَ أهلُ العلم، وقالوا: إنّ اللهَ لم يَخْلُقْ آدَمَ بِيَدِه، وقالُوا: إنَّ مَعنى اليَدِ هَا هنا القُوَّةُ.
وقال إسحاقُ بن إبراهيمَ: إنّما يكُونُ التَّشْبيهُ إذا قال: يَدٌ كَيَدٍ أو مِثْلُ يَدٍ، أو سَمْعٌ كَسَمْعٍ أو مِثْلُ سَمْعٍ، فإذا قال: سَمْعٌ كَسَمْعٍ أو مِثْلُ سَمْعٍ، فَهذا التّشْبِيهُ.
وأمَّا إذا قال كَما قال اللهُ تَعالى: يَدٌ وسَمْعٌ وبَصَرٌ، ولا يقولُ كَيفَ ولا يقولُ مِثلُ سَمْع ولا كَسَمْعٍ، فهذا لا يكون تَشْبِيهًا، وهو كما قال اللهُ تَعالى في كِتابِه: ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١].
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
Abū Yaʿlā said in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt:
١٠ - وقال في رواية حنبل: يضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديق الرسول. وقال: المشبهة تقول بصرٌ كبصري، ويدٌ كيدي، وقدم كقدمي
9 — And he said, in the report of Ḥanbal, about the hadiths that are narrated — 'Allah, Blessed and Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven', 'Allah is seen', 'He places His Foot', and the like: “We believe in them and affirm them as true, without 'how' and without 'meaning' (wa-lā kayf wa-lā maʿnā)! We reject nothing of them, and we know that what the Messenger ﷺ said is true, when [it comes] with authentic chains.” 10 — And he said, in the report of Ḥanbal: “Allah laughs, and we do not know how that is, except by affirming the Messenger as truthful.” And he said: “The mushabbihah say: a sight like my sight, a hand like my hand, a foot like my foot…”
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt p. 50 nos. 9–10, from Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq's reports from Aḥmad
Source, chain and authenticity
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٩ - وقال في رواية حنبل في الأحاديث التي تروي "إن الله ﵎ ينزل إلى سماء الدنيا" والله يُرى "وأنه يضع قدمه" وما أشبه بذلك نُؤمن بها ونصدق بها ولا كيف ولا معنى! ولا نرد شيئًا منها، ونعلم أن ما قاله الرسول ﷺ حقٌّ إذا كانت بأسانيد صحاح.
١٠ - وقال في رواية حنبل: يضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديق الرسول. وقال: المشبهة تقول بصرٌ كبصري، ويدٌ كيدي، وقدم كقدمي، ومن قال ذلك فقد شبَّه الله بخلقه.
فقد نصَّ أحمد على القول بظاهر الأخبار من غير تشبيهٍ ولا تأويل.
١١ - وذكر عبد الرحمن بن منده في كتاب الإسلام (¬١) فقال أنا يوسف بن محمد السلمي بأصبهان أنا علي بن محمد بن إبراهيم الدمشقي نا عبد الله بن محمد بن جعفر النهاوندي نا أبو بكر محمد بن إبراهيم بن عبد الله نا أحمد بن جعفر بن يعقوب الفارسي قال: قال أبو عبد الله أحمد بن محمد بن حنبل: وقد رأيت لأهل
Ibn Qudāmah, Taḥrīm p. 39: 'wa-lā maʿnā illā ʿalā mā waṣafah bihi nafsah').
Al-Tirmidhī, al-Jāmiʿ (al-Risālah Ed.)
Al-Tirmidhī said in al-Jāmiʿ:
هكذا رُوِي عن مالكٍ، وسُفيانَ بن عُيينةَ، وعَبد الله بن المُبَارَكِ أنهم قالوا في هذه الأحاديثِ: أمِرُّوها بِلا كَيفٍ. وهكذا قولُ أهلِ العلمِ من أهلِ السُّنَّةِ والجَماعَةِ، وأمَّا الجَهميّةُ فأنْكَرَتْ هذِهِ الرِّوايات، وقالُوا: هذا تَشْبِيهٌ.
وقد ذكَرَ اللهُ ﵎ في غيرِ مَوْضِعٍ مِن كِتابِه: اليَدَ والسَّمْعَ والبَصَرَ، فتأوَّلت الجَهْميّةُ هذِهِ الآياتِ ففَسَّرُوها على غيرِ ما فَسَّرَ أهلُ العلم، وقالوا: إنّ اللهَ لم يَخْلُقْ آدَمَ بِيَدِه، وقالُوا: إنَّ مَعنى اليَدِ هَا هنا القُوَّةُ.
More than one of the people of knowledge said about this hadith and similar reports concerning the attributes, and the descent of the Lord, Blessed and Exalted, every night to the lowest heaven: The reports on this are established; they are believed in, not imagined, and it is not said 'how?'. Thus it is reported from Mālik, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak that they said about these hadiths: 'Pass them on without how.' This is the position of the people of knowledge of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah. As for the Jahmiyyah, they rejected these reports and said: this is tashbīh. Allah has mentioned in more than one place in His Book the hand, hearing and seeing; the Jahmiyyah interpreted these verses and explained them (fassarūhā) other than as the people of knowledge explained them, and said: Allah did not create Ādam with His hand, and said: the meaning of 'hand' here is power.
al-Tirmidhī, al-Jāmiʿ (al-Risālah ed.) 2/202, after no. 662
Source, chain and authenticity
Note 'fassarūhā ʿalā ghayr mā fassara ahl al-ʿilm': the people of knowledge HAVE a tafsīr of these words; the Jahmiyyah's is another. This is the textual answer to reading 'bi-lā tafsīr' as 'without meaning'.
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هكذا رُوِي عن مالكٍ، وسُفيانَ بن عُيينةَ، وعَبد الله بن المُبَارَكِ أنهم قالوا في هذه الأحاديثِ: أمِرُّوها بِلا كَيفٍ. وهكذا قولُ أهلِ العلمِ من أهلِ السُّنَّةِ والجَماعَةِ، وأمَّا الجَهميّةُ فأنْكَرَتْ هذِهِ الرِّوايات، وقالُوا: هذا تَشْبِيهٌ.
وقد ذكَرَ اللهُ ﵎ في غيرِ مَوْضِعٍ مِن كِتابِه: اليَدَ والسَّمْعَ والبَصَرَ، فتأوَّلت الجَهْميّةُ هذِهِ الآياتِ ففَسَّرُوها على غيرِ ما فَسَّرَ أهلُ العلم، وقالوا: إنّ اللهَ لم يَخْلُقْ آدَمَ بِيَدِه، وقالُوا: إنَّ مَعنى اليَدِ هَا هنا القُوَّةُ.
وقال إسحاقُ بن إبراهيمَ: إنّما يكُونُ التَّشْبيهُ إذا قال: يَدٌ كَيَدٍ أو مِثْلُ يَدٍ، أو سَمْعٌ كَسَمْعٍ أو مِثْلُ سَمْعٍ، فإذا قال: سَمْعٌ كَسَمْعٍ أو مِثْلُ سَمْعٍ، فَهذا التّشْبِيهُ.
وأمَّا إذا قال كَما قال اللهُ تَعالى: يَدٌ وسَمْعٌ وبَصَرٌ، ولا يقولُ كَيفَ ولا يقولُ مِثلُ سَمْع ولا كَسَمْعٍ، فهذا لا يكون تَشْبِيهًا، وهو كما قال اللهُ تَعالى في كِتابِه: ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ [الشورى: ١١].
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah)
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah) no. 7420 said in 9/124–125:
[Zaynab used to boast over the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, saying:] “Your families married you off, and Allah, Exalted is He, married me off from above seven heavens.”
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah) no. 7420, 9/124–125
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⦗١٢٥⦘
ﷺ تَقُولُ: زَوَّجَكُنَّ أَهَالِيكُنَّ، وَزَوَّجَنِي اللهُ تَعَالَى مِنْ فَوْقِ سَبْعِ سَمَاوَاتٍ» وَعَنْ ثَابِتٍ: ﴿وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا اللهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَى النَّاسَ﴾ نَزَلَتْ فِي شَأْنِ زَيْنَبَ وَزَيْدِ بْنِ حَارِثَةَ.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (ʿAbd al-Bāqī) no. 537 said in 1/381:
“Where is Allah?” [She said: In the heaven. He said: Who am I? She said: You are the Messenger of Allah. He said: Free her, for she is a believer.]
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (ʿAbd al-Bāqī) no. 537, 1/381
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٣٣ - (٥٣٧) حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الصَّبَّاحِ، وَأَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ (وَتَقَارَبَا فِي لَفْظِ الْحَدِيثِ) قَالَا: حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيل بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ حَجَّاجٍ الصَّوَّافِ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ أَبِي كَثِيرٍ، عَنْ هِلَالِ بْنِ أَبِي مَيْمُونَةَ، عَنْ عَطَاءِ بْنِ يَسَارٍ، عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ السُّلَمِيِّ؛ قَالَ:
بَيْنَا أَنَا أُصَلِّي مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ. إِذْ عَطَسَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ. فَقُلْتُ: يرحمك الله! فرماني القوم بأبصارهم. فقلت: واثكل أُمِّيَاهْ! مَا شَأْنُكُمْ؟ تَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيَّ. فَجَعَلُوا يَضْرِبُونَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ عَلَى أَفْخَاذِهِمْ. فَلَمَّا رَأَيْتُهُمْ يُصَمِّتُونَنِي. لَكِنِّي سَكَتُّ. فَلَمَّا صَلَّى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ. فَبِأَبِي هُوَ وَأُمِّي! مَا رَأَيْتُ مُعَلِّمًا قَبْلَهُ وَلَا بَعْدَهُ أَحْسَنَ تَعْلِيمًا مِنْهُ. فَوَاللَّهِ! مَا كَهَرَنِي وَلَا ضَرَبَنِي وَلَا شَتَمَنِي. قَالَ "إِنَّ هَذِهِ الصَّلَاةَ لَا يَصْلُحُ فِيهَا شَيْءٌ
⦗٣٨٢⦘
مِنْ كَلَامِ النَّاسِ. إِنَّمَا هُوَ التَّسْبِيحُ وَالتَّكْبِيرُ وَقِرَاءَةُ الْقُرْآنِ".
أَوْ كَمَا قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ. قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ! إِنِّي حَدِيثُ عَهْدٍ بِجَاهِلِيَّةٍ. وَقَدْ جَاءَ اللَّهُ بِالإِسْلَامِ. وَإِنَّ مِنَّا رِجَالًا يَأْتُونَ الْكُهَّانَ. قَالَ "فَلَا تَأْتِهِمْ" قَالَ: وَمِنَّا رِجَالٌ يَتَطَيَّرُونَ. قَالَ "ذَاكَ شَيْءٌ يَجِدُونَهُ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ. فلا يصدنهم (قال ابن المصباح: فَلَا يَصُدَّنَّكُمْ) قَالَ قُلْتُ: وَمِنَّا رِجَالٌ يَخُطُّونَ. قَالَ "كَانَ نَبِيٌّ مِنَ الأَنْبِيَاءِ يَخُطُّ. فَمَنْ وَافَقَ خَطَّهُ فَذَاكَ" قَالَ: وَكَانَتْ لِي جَارِيَةٌ تَرْعَى غَنَمًا لِي قِبَلَ أُحُدٍ وَالْجَوَّانِيَّةِ. فَاطَّلَعْتُ ذات يوم فإذا الذيب [الذئب؟؟] قَدْ ذَهَبَ بِشَاةٍ مِنْ غَنَمِهَا. وَأَنَا رَجُلٌ مِنْ بَنِي آدَمَ. آسَفُ كَمَا يَأْسَفُونَ. لَكِنِّي صَكَكْتُهَا صَكَّةً. فَأَتَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَعَظَّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَيَّ. قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ! أَفَلَا أُعْتِقُهَا؟ قَالَ "ائْتِنِي بِهَا" فَأَتَيْتُهُ بِهَا. فَقَالَ لَهَا "أَيْنَ اللَّهُ؟ " قَالَتْ: فِي السَّمَاءِ. قَالَ "مَنْ أَنَا؟ " قَالَتْ: أَنْتَ رسول الله. قال "أعتقها. فإنها مؤمنة".
Qurʾān
Allah, the Exalted, said:
He said: 'Do not fear; indeed, I am with you both — I hear and I see.'
Qurʾān 20:46 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah, the Exalted, said:
It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne. He knows what enters the earth and what comes out of it, what descends from the heaven and what ascends into it; and He is with you wherever you are. And Allah sees what you do.
Qurʾān 57:4 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 2704 reported in 4/2076:
كُنَّا مَعَ النَّبِيِّ
2704 — Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shayba narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl and Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, from ʿĀṣim, from Abū ʿUthmān, from Abū Mūsā, who said: We were with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey … [“… you are not calling one who is deaf or absent; you are calling One All-Hearing, Near, and He is with you”].
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 2704, 4/2076
Source, chain and authenticity
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٤٤ - (٢٧٠٤) حدثنا أبو بكر بن أبي شيبة. حدثنا محمد بن فضيل وَأَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ عَنْ عَاصِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِي عُثْمَانَ، عن أبي موسى. قَالَ:
كُنَّا مَعَ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ في سفر. فجعل الناس يجهرون بالتكبير. فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ "يَا أيها الناس! اربعوا على أنفسكم. إنكم ليس تدعون أصم ولا غائبا. إنكم تدعون سميعا قريبا. وهو معكم" قال وأنا خلفه، وأنا أقول: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله. فقال "يا عبد الله بن قيس! ألا أدلك على كنز من كنوز الجنة؟ " فقلت: بلى. يا رسول الله! قال
⦗٢٠٧٧⦘
"قل: لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله".
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — Al-ʿAqīdah
Al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — al-ʿAqīdah 3/310 said in from Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah:
Yūsuf ibn Mūsā al-Qaṭṭān said: It was said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh: “And Allah, Exalted is He, is above the seventh heaven, upon His Throne, separate from His creation, and His power and knowledge are in every place?” He said: “Yes, upon His Throne; nothing is devoid of His knowledge.”
al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — al-ʿAqīdah 3/310, from Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Ibānah 3/156–159 nos. 113–115; 302
Source, chain and authenticity
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قال الإمام أحمد: هكذا هو عندنا (١).
وقال أبو بكر المروذي، سمعت أبا عبد اللَّه وقيل له: روى علي ابن الحسن بن شقيق عن ابن المبارك؛ أنه قيل له: كيف نعرف اللَّه قال: على العرلش بحد، فقال بلغني ذلك عنه وأعجبه، ثم قال أبو عبد اللَّه: ﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠] ثم قال ﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا﴾ (٢) [الفجر: ٢٢].
وقال يوسف بن موسى القطان: قيل لأبي عبد اللَّه: واللَّه تعالى فوق السماء السابعة على عرشه بائن من خلقه، وقدرته وعلمه بكل مكان، قال: نعم، على عرشه، لا يخلو شيء من علمه (٣).
"الإبانة" كتاب الرد على الجهمية ٣/ ١٥٦ - ١٥٩ (١١٣ - ١١٥)
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
Sources
- Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt
- Abū Yaʿlā, al-Masāʾil al-ʿAqadiyyah min al-Riwāyatayn wa-l-Wajhayn
- Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, al-Radd ʿalā al-Jahmiyyah wa-l-Zanādiqah, ed. Ṣabrī
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- Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
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- Ibn Qudāmah, Ithbāt Ṣifat al-ʿUluww
- Ibn Qudāmah, Lumʿat al-Iʿtiqād
- Ibn Qudāmah, Taḥrīm al-Naẓar fī Kutub Ahl al-Kalām
- Ibn Rajab, Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah, ed. al-ʿUthaymīn
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- Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhāj al-Sunnah
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Sharḥ Ḥadīth al-Nuzūl
- Ibn al-Jawzī, Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh, usul.ai digital text vol.
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- Ibn al-Zāghūnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī Uṣūl al-Dīn, ed. ʿIṣām al-Sayyid Maḥmūd. Not in local
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- Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd (al-Maghribiyyah ed.)
- Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh, ed. ʿAṭāʾāt
- Kitāb al-Sunnah
- Qurʾān
- The editor's footnote reproduces Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-Bārī
- al-Dashtī, Ithbāt al-Ḥadd (ed. al-ʿUtaybī and Āl Ḥamdān
- al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ
- al-Dhahabī, al-ʿUluww
- al-Dārimī, Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. al-Almaʿī
- al-Harawī, Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn
- al-Harawī, al-Arbaʿūn fī Dalāʾil al-Tawḥīd
- al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad
- al-Jāmiʿ li-ʿUlūm al-Imām Aḥmad — al-ʿAqīdah
- al-Khallāl, al-Sunnah
- al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ Uṣūl Iʿtiqād
- al-Radd
- al-Tirmidhī, al-Jāmiʿ (al-Risālah ed.)
- al-Ṭabarī, Ṣarīḥ al-Sunnah
- the chain 'ʿAbd Allāh ← Ḥanbal' suggests a work transmitting via ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ḥanbal, cf.). Parallel witho
- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-Sunnah
- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, al-Sunnah
- ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī, al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād
- Ḥarb al-Kirmānī, Ijmāʿ al-Salaf fī al-Iʿtiqād
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (ʿAbd al-Bāqī)
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Sulṭāniyyah)
- Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilah (ed. al-ʿUthaymīn)