THE HADITH OF ALLAH'S "DESCENT"


By Dr. G. F. Haddad



The scholars differed concerning the meaning of Allah's "descent" in the mass-narrated (mutawatir) hadith:

Our Lord - Blessed and Exalted is He! - descends every night to the lowest heaven in the last third of the night and says: Who is supplicating Me so that I may answer him? Who is asking forgiveness from Me so that I may forgive him? [1]

Ibn `Asakir said:

The Mu`tazila said: [Allah's] "Descent" (nuzul) is the descent of any given sign of His, or that of His angels. The Mushabbiha and Hashwiyya said: Descent is the descent of His person (dhat) through movement (haraka) and displacement (intiqal). Al-Ash`ari took the middle road and said: Descent is one of His attributes. [2]

Al-Bayhaqi further reports that Al-Ash`ari said: "What is meant by the descent is an act brought to be by Allah in the nearest heaven every night, which [the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --] has named a descent, without movement nor displacement. Exalted is Allah above the characteristics of creatures!" [3]

Imam al-Haramayn said in his epistle al-Nizamiyya: "Whoever possesses one iota of reason harbors no doubt whatsoever that change, displacement, and removal are among the attributes of bodies." [4]

Al-Qurtubi said that the hadith is elucidated by that related by al-Nasa'i in his Sunan al-Kubra and `Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla whereby the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- said:

Allah waits until the first part of the night is over, then He orders a herald (munadiyan) to say: Is there anyone supplicating so that he may be answered, anyone begging for forgiveness so that he may be forgiven, any petitioner so that he may be granted his request? [5]

The above narration is confirmed by the hadith of `Uthman ibn Abi al-`As al-Thaqafi from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --:

The gates of heaven are opened in the middle of the night and a herald calls out: Is there anyone supplicating so that he may be answered? Is there anyone asking so that he may be granted? Is there anyone afflicted so that he may be delivered? At that time there is no Muslim who invokes for anything except Allah answers him, except the adultress who runs after her pleasure and her intimate companion. [6]

Thus the calling out, in al-Qurtubi's view, is directly attributed to Allah in Bukhari and Muslim's narrations in order to highlight His regard and His emphasis, as when one says: "The sultan calls out for this," whereas it is actually a herald who calls out the sultan's order as elucidated in the above two versions. This is confirmed by Imam Malik's statement: "It is our Blessed and Exalted Lord's command which descends; as for Him, He is eternally the same, He does not move or go to and fro," [7] although it is established that Malik forbade discourse of any kind about the hadiths of Allah's attributes, preferring not to interpret the hadiths of descent one way or the other and that he said about them: "Let them pass without entering into modality." [8]

Nevertheless, not all the Salaf let them pass, as al-Bayhaqi relates from the Tabi`i Hammad ibn Zayd that he interpreted Allah's descent to the nearest heaven as "His turning to" (nuzuluhu iqbaluhu). [9]

Ibn al-Jawzi cautioned: "Since you understand that the one who descends towards you is near to you, content yourself with the knowledge that He is near you, and do not think in terms of bodily nearness." [10] Ibn al-Jawzi actually read the verb "descend" in the hadith of Bukhari and Muslim as yunzilu ("He orders down") instead of yanzilu ("He comes down"). [11] This was also the Ash`ari imam Ibn Furak's reading according to Ibn Hajar who confirms its soundness in view of al-Nasa'i's narration. This furthers confirms al-Qurtubi's reading and the interpretations of Malik and Hammad ibn Zayd.


AL-BAJI'S COMMENTARY

Abu al-Walid al-Baji stated in his commentary of Malik's Muwatta':

The Prophet's -- Allah bless and greet him -- saying that our Exalted Lord descends every night to the nearest heaven is to inform us that supplication at that particular time is answered, petitioners are given what they request, and those who ask for forgiveness are forgiven. It warns us as to the great merit of that time and strongly encourages us to make abundant supplication, petition, and contrition at that time. It was narrated from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- in similar terms that Allah Almighty and Exalted said: "If My servant comes near Me one hand-span I come near him one cubit. If he comes near Me one cubit I come near him an arm's length. If he comes to Me walking, I come to him running." [12] He did not mean by this hadith a coming-near in terms of distance, for such is impossible and inexistent. All he meant was the servant's coming-near in terms of good works, and Allah's coming-near in terms of answer and acceptance. In the same sense one says "So-and-so is near So-and-so," and they say of the leader "He is near his people" if he helps them a lot and welcomes them. This is well-known in the language of the Arabs. [13]


IBN `ABD AL-SALAM'S COMMENTARY

Ibn `Abd al-Salam said:

The meaning of His coming closer to us by descending to the nearest heaven, or by His drawing-near a cubit and an arm's length, [14] is that He treats us with munificence (ikram) in the manner of the liege-lord that walks towards his servants and condescends to them, turning to them with full attention (muqbilan `alayhim) and examining their needs one by one. That is why He says: "Is there anyone supplicating so that I may answer him? Is there anyone asking so that I may grant him? Is there anyone seeking forgiveness so that I may forgive him?" [15]


IBN HAJAR'S COMMENTARY

Following is the text of Ibn Hajar's commentary on the hadith of descent:

Those who assert direction for Allah have used this hadith as proof that He is in the direction of aboveness. The vast majority of the scholars reject this, because such a saying leads to establishing boundaries for Him and Allah is exalted above that. [16]

The meaning of "descent" is interpreted differently:

* Some say that the external meaning is meant literally: these are the Mushabbiha and Allah is exalted above what they say.

* Some reject the validity of the hadiths cited in that chapter altogether. These are the Khawarij and the Mu`tazila in their arrogance. What is strange is that they interpret figuratively what is related to this in the Qur'an, but they reject what is in the hadith either out of ignorance or out of obduracy.

* Some have taken them as they have come, believing in them without specificity, declaring Allah to be transcendent above modality (kayfiyya) and likeness to creation (tashbih): these are the vast majority of the Salaf. That position is reported by al-Bayhaqi and others from the Four Imams, Sufyan ibn `Uyayna, Sufyan al-Thawri, Hammad ibn Salama, Hammad ibn Zayd, al-Awza`i, al-Layth, and others.

* Some interpreted them in a way that befits the linguistic usage of the Arabs.

* Some have over-interpreted them to the point that they almost tampered with their text.

* Some have made a difference between a kind of interpretation that is likely and current in the linguistic usage of the Arabs, and another kind which is far-fetched and archaic, interpreting in the former case and committing the meaning to Allah in the latter. This is reported from Malik, and among the Khalaf it is asserted decisively by Ibn Daqiq al-`Id (d. 702). [17]

Al-Bayhaqi said: "The safest method is to believe in them without modality, and to keep silence concerning what is meant except if the explanation is conveyed from the Prophet himself, in which case it is followed." The proof for this is the agreement of the scholars that the specific interpretation is not obligatory, and that therefore the commitment of meaning to Allah is safest....

Ibn al-`Arabi al-Maliki said:

It is reported that the innovators have rejected these hadiths, the Salaf passed them on as they came, and others interpreted them, and my position is the last one. [18] The saying: "He descends" refers to His acts, not His essence. Indeed, it is an expression for His angels who descend with His command and His prohibition. And just as descent can pertain to bodies, it can also pertain to ideas or spiritual notions (ma`ani). If one takes the hadith to refer to a physical occurrence, then descent would be the attribute of the angel sent to carry out an order. If one takes it to refer to a spiritual occurrence, that is, first He did not act, then He acted: this would be called a descent from one rank to another, and this is a sound Arabic meaning.

In sum the hadith is interpreted in two ways: the first is: His command or His angel descends; the second is: it is a metaphor for His regard for supplicants, His answering them, and so forth.

Abu Bakr ibn Furak has said that some of the masters have read it yunzilu - "He sends down" - instead of yanzilu - "He descends" - that is, He sends down an angel. This is strengthened by al-Nasa'i's narration through al-Aghurr from Abu Hurayra and Abu Sa`id al-Khudri: "Allah waits until the first part of the night is over, then He orders a herald to say: Is there anyone supplicating so that he may be answered?..." [19] There is also the hadith of `Uthman ibn Abi al-`As: "The gates of heaven are opened in the middle of the night and a herald calls out: Is there anyone supplicating so that he may be answered?..." [20] Al-Qurtubi said: "This clears all ambiguity, and there is no interference by the narration of Rifa`a al-Juhani whereby "Allah descends to the nearest heaven and says: I do not ask about My servants anyone besides Myself," [21] for there is nothing in this which precludes the above-mentioned interpretation.

Al-Baydawi said:

Since it is established with decisive proofs that the Exalted is transcendent above having a body or being circumscribed by boundaries, it is forbidden to attribute to Him descent in the sense of displacement from one place to another place lower than it. What is meant is the light of His mercy: that is, He moves from what is pursuant to the attribute of Majesty entailing wrath and punishment, to what is pursuant to the attribute of Generosity entailing kindness and mercy." [22]


SOME MISLEADING REPORTS FROM THE SALAF

One of the Jahmi scholars said to Ishaq ibn Rahuyah: "I disbelieve in a Lord that descends from one heaven to another heaven," whereupon he replied: "I believe in a Lord that does what He wishes." [23] This response is also narrated from Fudayl ibn `Iyad, Yahya ibn Ma`in, and al-Awza`i. [24] Al-Bayhaqi narrates the incident with a sound chain through al-Hakim from Ishaq ibn Rahuyah, and he identifies the Jahmi scholar as Ibrahim ibn Abi Salih, then comments: "Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Hanzali made it clear, in this report, that he considers the descent (al-nuzul) one of the attributes of action (min sifat al-fi`l). Secondly, he spoke of a descent without `how'. This proves he did not hold displacement (al-intiqal) and movement from one place to another (al-zawal) concerning it." [25]

Beyond disputation or misleading concision, Ahl al-Sunna accept and believe all the authentic reports that came from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --, including the hadith of Allah's "descent" to the nearest heaven, and they believe, at the same time, in a Lord that does what He wishes and befits Him. This was elaborated by Ibn Jahbal al-Kilabi in his lengthy refutation of Ibn Taymiyya's belief on Allah's "direction" (jiha), "aboveness" (fawqiyya), and "descent" (nuzul).

No doubt related to the above is Ibn Taymiyya's addition from Ibn Rahuyah whereby he said: "He is able to descend without the Throne being vacant of Him" (yaqdiru an yanzila min ghayri an yakhlua al-`arshu minhu)! This is identical with Hammad ibn Zayd's reported view that "He is in His place and He comes near His servants however He wishes" (huwa fi makanihi yaqrubu min khalqihi kayfa sha'). [26] Ibn Taymiyya also attributes this position to Ibn Mandah [27] - Abu Bakr al-Najjad's student - who composed a book he named al-Radd `Ala Man Za`ama Anna Allaha Fi Kulli Makan Wa `Ala Man Za`ama Anna Allaha Laysa Lahu Makan, Wa `Ala Man Ta'awwala al-Nuzula `Ala Ghayri al-Nuzul ("Refutation of Those Who Claim That Allah Is In Every Place, and Of Those Who Claim That He Is Not In Any Place, and Of Those Who Interpret the Descent to Mean Other than the Descent"). [28]


AL-KHATTABI'S COMMENTARY

Bayhaqi follows up on the narration of Ibn Rahuyah's reply with the following explanation by Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi:

One does not imagine of the descent of One Who is not governed by the attributes of bodies that it pertains to the meanings of a descent from top to bottom, or a displacement from above to below. It is only a report of His power and benevolence towards His creatures, His pity for them, His responsiveness to their supplications, and His forgiveness of them. He does what He wishes, modality is not applied to His attributes, nor quantity to His acts. Glory to Him! {There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.} (42:11).... And the position of all the Predecessors concerning the above is just as we said, and it was narrated narrated thus from a group of the Companions. [29] One of the shaykhs among the hadith scholars who are foremost references in the knowledge of narrations and narrators slipped and turned away from this path when he narrated the hadith of descent and then remarked: `If someone asks how our Lord descends to the heaven, the answer is: He descends as He wishes; if he asks: Does He move (hal yataharrak) when He descends? The answer is: If He wishes, He moves, and if He does not wish, He does not move.' And this is a gross and crucial mistake (khata' fahish `azim)! For Allah Almighty is not described by movement, since movement and stillness follow one after the other in the same entity: it is specifically possible to attribute movement to whatever can be attributed stillness, and both of them are among the accidents of originated matter (min a`rad al-hadath) and the attributes of creatures. Whereas Allah is exalted high above them, {There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him.} (42:11) If that shaykh had trodden the path of the pious Predecessors and had not ventured into what is of no concern to him, he would not have come out with a statement such as this gross mistake. I only mentioned this so that such manner of talk should be cautiously avoided, for it does not result in good nor in the benefit of guidance. We ask Allah protection from misguidance, from speaking in prohibited terms, falsehood, and impossibilities. [30]

Al-Khattabi in his commentary on Abu Dawud also states:

This [hadith] belongs to the knowledge in whose outward expression we have been ordered to believe and not seek to disclose its inward sense. It is one of the many ambiguities (mutashabih) which Allah has mentioned in His book. [31]


AL-MATURIDI, IBN HAZM, AND IBN `ABD AL-WAHHAB

Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333) said: "To suggest a place for Allah is idolatry." [32] Similarly Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri - the declared enemy of the Ash`ari school - said: "By no means whatsoever is Allah in a place or in a time. This is the position of the vast majority of the scholars (al-jumhur) and ours as well, and other than this position is not permissible, for anything other than it is false." [33] He further states:

[Allah's descent] is an act which Allah Almighty and Exalted does in the nearest heaven pertaining to an opening for the acceptance of supplication. It refers to the fact that that hour is the likeliest time for acceptance, answer, and forgiveness for those who strive, seek forgiveness, and repent. [34]

Even Sulayman ibn `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab (the brother of the founder of the Wahhabi Sect - Ibn Abdul Wahhab - editor) declared as an unbeliever anyone who attributed place to Allah: "Whoever believes or says: Allah is in person (bi dhatihi) in every place, or in one place, is a disbeliever (kafir)." [35] Accordingly Hammad ibn Zayd's statement that "He is in His place and He comes near His servants however He wishes," if authentic, must be interpreted in a way to suggest other than the ascription of place, as did al-Bayhaqi with Ibn Rahuyah's answer to the Jahmi. [36]


IBN `ABD AL-BARR'S CONTROVERSY

Literalists often quote Ibn `Abd al-Barr's controversial words on the hadith of descent in al-Tamhid:

The hadith [of Allah's descent] provides evidence that Allah is in (fi) the heaven, on (`ala) the Throne, above (fawq) seven heavens, as the Congregation (jama`a) said, and this is part of their proof against the Mu`tazila and the Jahmiyya's claim that Allah is in every place and not on the Throne....

Part of the right owed Allah's Speech is that it be taken in it literal sense (`ala haqiqatihi), until the Community concurs that what is meant is the metaphorical meaning, when there is no way to follow what is revealed to us from our Lord except in that way....

Istawa is known in the language and understood to be height (`uluw), rising above something, fixity in a place (al-tamkin), and settledness in it (al-istiqrar fih).... and istawa is "settledness in height" (al-istiqrar fi al-`uluw). Allah said to us: That you may mount upon (tastawu) their backs, and may remember your Lord's favor when you mount (istawaytum) thereon (43:13), And it (the ship) came to rest (istawat) upon (the mount) al-Judi (11:44), and And when you are on board (istawayta) the ship, you and whoso is with you (23:28). [37]


IBN AL-`ARABI'S REFUTATION OF IBN `ABD AL-BARR

The above was firmly rejected by Ibn al-`Arabi in his commentary on the hadith of descent in al-Tirmidhi:

Some ignorant people have trespassed bounds in interpreting this hadith, claiming there is proof in it that Allah "is in the Heaven, on the Throne, above the seven heavens." We say that this is a sign of tremendous ignorance.

What the hadith said is "He descends to Heaven" without specifying from where He descends or how He descends. Yet they said - and their proof is, again, based on the literal sense - {The Merciful established Himself over the Throne} (20:4).

We ask: What is the Throne in Arabic, and what is istawa?

They reply: As Allah said: That you may mount upon (tastawu) their backs, and may remember your Lord's favor when you mount (istawaytum) thereon (43:13).

We say: Allah is Mighty and Higher than to have His istiwa' on His Throne compared to our sitting on the backs of animals.

They say: And as He said: And it (the ship) came to rest (istawat) upon (the mount) al-Judi (11:44).

We say: Allah is Mighty and Higher than a ship that sailed and then docked and stopped.

They said: And as He said: And when you are on board (istawayta) the ship, you and whoso is with you (23:28).

We say: Allah forbid that His istiwa' be similar to that of Noah and his people. Everything in the latter case is created, as it consists in istiwa' with an elevation and a settling in a place involving physical contact. The entire Umma is in agreement, even before hearing the hadith of descent and the arguments of those who rejected it, that Allah's istiwa' does not involve any of those things. Therefore do not give examples from His creation for Him!...

They say: Allah said: {"He rules all affairs from the Heaven to the Earth} (32:5).

We say: This is true, but it does not provide any proof for your innovation.

They say: All the firm believers in the Oneness of Allah raise their hands to the Heavens when supplicating him, and if Musa had not said to Pharaoh: "My Lord is in the Heaven," Pharaoh would not have said: {O Haman... set up for me a lofty tower in order that I may survey the god of Moses} (28:38).

We say: You are lying about Musa (, he never said that. But your conclusion shows that you are indeed the followers of Pharaoh, who believed that the Creator lies in a certain direction, and so he desired to climb up to Him on a ladder. He congratulates you for being among his followers, and he is your imam.

They say: What about Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt who said: "Glory to Him Whom creatures are unable to know in the way He deserves to be known, Who is on His Throne, One and One Alone, Sovereign and Possessor over the Throne of Heaven, unto Whose Majesty faces are humbled and prostrate"? And he - Umayya - had read the Torah, the Bible, and the Psalms.

We say: It is just like you, in your ignorance, to cite as proof, first Pharaoh, then the discourse of a pre-Islamic Arab supported by the Torah and the Bible, which have been distorted and changed. Of all of Allah's creation the Jews are the most knowledgeable in disbelief and in likening Allah to creation. [38]

What we must believe is that Allah existed and nothing existed with Him; that He created all creation, including the Throne, without becoming subject to disclosure through them, nor did a direction arise for Him because of them, nor did He acquire a location in them; that He does not become immanent, that He does not cease to be transcendent, that he does not change, and that He does not move from one state to another.

Istiwa' in the Arabic language has fifteen meanings both literal and figurative. Some of these meanings are suitable for Allah and the meaning of the verse (20:4) is derived from them. The other meanings are not accepted under any circumstances. For example, if it is taken to mean being fixed in a place (tamakkun), settling (istiqrar), connecting (ittisal), or being bounded (muhadhat): then none of these are suitable for the Creator Almighty and Exalted and no-one should try to find His likeness in His creation.

One may refrain from explaining the verse, as Malik and others have said: "Istiwa' is known" - he means: its lexical sense- "and its modality is unknown" (wa al-kayfu majhul) [39] - that is: the modality of whatever is suitable for Allah among the senses of istiwa': therefore who can specify such modality? - "and asking about it is innovation" - because, as we have just made clear, probing this matter is looking for dubious matters and that is asking for fitna.

Hence, from what the Imam of Muslims Malik has said, we can conclude that the istiwa' is known; that what is suitable for Allah is left unspecified; and that He is declared transcendent above what is impossible for Him. As for specifying what is not suitable for Him, it is not permissible for you, since you have completed the declaration of oneness and belief by negating likeness for Allah and by negating whatever it is absurd to believe concerning Him. There is no need for anything beyond that, and we have already explained this in detail.

As for the phrases: "He descends, He comes, He arrives," and similar ones whose meanings it is impermissible to apply to His Essence: they refer to His actions... Al-Awza`i explained this when he said, about this hadith: "Allah does what he wishes." [40] It suffices to know or simply to believe that Allah is not to be defined by any of the characteristics of creatures and that there is nothing in His creation that resembles Him and no interpretation that can explain Him.

They said: We must say "He descends" without asking how. We say: We seek refuge in Allah from asking how! We only say whatever Allah's Messenger -- Allah bless and greet him -- has taught us to say and what we have understood from the Arabic language in which the Qur'an was revealed. And the Prophet said: "Allah says: O My servant, I was ailing and you did not visit me, I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink..." [41] None of this is suitable of Allah whatsoever, but He has honored all these actions by expressing them through Him. In the same way, the saying "Our Lord descends" expresses that His servant and angel descends in His name with His order pertaining to whatever He bestows of His Mercy, gives out of His generosity, and showers His creation out of His bounty.

The poet says:

I have descended - therefore do not suspect me of jealousy! - in the station of the generous lover. [42]

A descent can be either figurative or physical. The descending that Allah spoke about, if understood as physical, would mean His angel, Messenger, and slave. However, if you can understand it to mean that He was not doing any of this and that He then turned to do it in the last third of the night, thereby answering prayers, forgiving, bestowing, and that He has named this "descending from one degree to another and from one attribute to another," then that - ironically - is addressed to those who have more knowledge than you and more intelligence, who are firmer in belief in Allah's Unity and are less confused than you - nay, who are not confused at all! [43]

They say in ignorance that if He meant the descending of his Mercy he would not make that only in the last third of the night, because His Mercy descends day and night. We say: Yes, he singled out the night, and the day of `Arafa, and the hour of Jum`a, because the descent of His mercy in them is more abundant, and its bestowal is even greater then. Allah told us of this when He said: {And those who beg forgiveness in the early hours of the morning} (3:17). [44]


AL-`IRAQI AND IBN JAHBAL'S DISMISSAL OF IBN `ABD AL-BARR

The Renewer of the eighth Islamic century and teacher of Ibn Hajar, Shaykh al-Islam Zayn al-Din al-`Iraqi said about Ibn `Abd al-Barr: "He is one of those who hold that Allah has a direction, therefore beware of him." [45] The Shafi`i Imam Ibn Jahbal al-Kilabi indicated Ibn `Abd al-Barr's isolation from the position of most scholars, particularly Malikis, on the questions of istiwa' and descent:

Concerning what Abu `Umar ibn `Abd al-Barr said, both the elite and the general public know the man's position and the scholars' disavowal of if. The Malikis' condemnation of it, from the first to the last of them, is well-known. His contravention (mukhalafa) of the Imam of North Africa, Abu al-Walid al-Baji, is famous. [46] It reached a point that the eminent people of North Africa would say: `No-one in North Africa holds this position except he and Ibn Abi Zayd!' although some of the people of knowledge cited an excuse for Ibn Abi Zayd in the text of the great qadi Abu Muhammad `Abd al-Wahhab [ibn `Ali ibn Nasr al-Baghdadi (d. 422)] al-Baghdadi al-Maliki [47] - may Allah have mercy on him. [48]


AL-QARI'S RECAPITULATION

Al-Qari commented the following on the hadith of descent:

"Our Lord descends" means that His command descends to one or more of His angels, or that His herald descends.

"Blessed and Exalted is He" means: Abundant are His goodness, Mercy, and the marks of His beauty. Also, He is exalted above the attributes of creatures pertaining to ascent and descent, and elevated with His splendor, magnificence, and majesty above the properties of contingence. It was said that "Blessed and Exalted" are parenthetical clauses inserted between the verb and its circumstancial modifier [of time, place, etc.] to warn about transcendence, so that no-one falsely imagine that the attribution of the modifier to the verb is real.

"Every night to the lowest heaven": Ibn Hajar said: "Meaning His order and mercy descend, or His angels." [49] This is the figurative interpretation of Imam Malik [50] and others; it is indicated by the sound narration: "Allah waits until the first part of the night is over, then He orders a herald (munadiyan) to say: Is there anyone supplicating so that he may beanswered, etc." [51] A second figurative interpretation - also attributed to Imam Malik - is that it is a metaphor (isti`ara) to signify turning to (iqbal) [52] the supplicant with fulfillment, kindness, mercy, and the acceptance of remorse in the manner of the generous, especially kings when they alight near the needy and weak.

Al-Nawawi said in Sharh Sahih Muslim:

There are, concerning this hadith and those like it among the hadiths and verses of the divine Attributes, two well-known schools of thought. The school of the vast majority of the Salaf and some of the sholars of kalam holds that we must believe in their reality according to what befits Allah Almighty and Exalted, but that the literal import we commonly apply to ourselves is not meant, nor do we say anything to interpret them figuratively, believing firmly that Allah is utterly transcendent above the properties of contingence (huduth). [53] The second school is that of the majority of the scholars of kalam and a number of the Salaf - related from Malik and al-Awza`i - and holds that they are interpreted figuratively but only according to their appropriate contextual meanings. On that basis, this hadith has two interpretations. [54]

Then he cited the two interpretations we mentioned above. From what he said, as well as from the words of the godly scholar Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, Imam al-Haramayn, al-Ghazzali, and others both among our own Imams and the rest, it is understood that the two schools agree upon the dismissal of the literal meaning of the following: the "coming" (al-maji'), the "form" (al-sura), the "person" (al-shakhs), the "leg" (al-rijl), the "foot" (al-qadam), the "hand" (al-yad), the "face" (al-wajh), "anger" (al-ghadab), "mercy" (al-rahma), the "establishment over the Throne" (al-istiwa' `ala al-`arsh), the "being in the heaven" (al-kawn fi al-sama'), and others. Understood literally, all these would necessarily result in definitely false impossibilities entailing positions whose status is disbelief (kufr) by Consensus. Due to this, all of the Khalaf and Salaf were compelled to dismiss the literal meaning of the word.

They differed only with regard to the following: Should we dismiss the literal meaning while believing firmly that Allah Almighty and Exalted described Himself with whatever befits His majesty and magnificence, without interpreting it figuratively as something else? This is the way of most of the Salaf, and it involves a non-specific type of figurative interpretation (ta'wil ijmali). Or should we dismiss the literal meaning while believing firmly that Allah Almighty and Exalted described Himself with whatever befits His majesty and magnificence, and interpreting it figuratively as something else? This is the way of most of the Khalaf, and it consists in a specific type of figurative interpretation (ta'wil tafsili). [55]

The Khalaf did not want, in adopting the latter, to deliberately contravene the pious Salaf - we seek refuge in Allah from such a notion about them! However, it was only out of the necessity in which their times placed them, because of the abundance of the mujassima and Jahmiyya among other misguided sects, and their sway over the minds of the general public. By adopting specific figurative interpretation, they aimed to deter them and prove their doctrines false. Thereafter, many of them expressed regret and said: "If we had the pious Salaf's purity of doctrine and enjoyed the scarcity of naysayers which they enjoyed in their time, we would not probe into the figurative interpretation of any of these."

It is by now clear that Malik and al-Awza`i - major figures of the Salaf - interpreted this hadith in its specifics. Similarly did Sufyan al-Thawri interpret istiwa' over the Throne as the decision of Allah's command, its equivalent being {Then turned He (thumma istawa) to the heaven when it was smoke} (41:11). [56] Among those who did the same is Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq. Indeed a whole group of them, as well as later scholars, said that whoever believes Allah to be in a particular physical direction is an unbeliever, as al-`Iraqi has explicitly stated, saying:

This is the position of Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi`i, al-Ash`ari, and al-Baqillani. All the groups have agreed upon interpreting such texts as {And He is with you wheresoever you may be} (57:4), {There is no secret conference of three but He is their fourth[, nor of five but He is their sixth, nor of less than that or more but He is with them wheresoever they may be]} (58:7), {Wheresoever you turn, there is Allah's countenance} (2:115), {We are nearer to him than his jugular vein} (50:16), "There is no heart except it lies between the two fingers of the Merciful," [57] and "The Black Stone is Allah's right hand on earth." [58] This agreement makes plain to the reader the validity of the authorities' decision that the pause in the verse

{None knows its explanation (ta'wil) save Allah And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge [They] say: We believe therein}[59] (3:7)

is after the clause "who are firmly grounded in knowledge," not Allah's name. [60]

I say: The vast majority consider that the pause comes at Allah's name, and have declared it a mandatory pause (waqf lazim).61 This is the literal meaning, for ta'wil is the meaning which Allah Almighty and Exalted meant, and in reality none knows that meaning except Allah Almighty and Exalted, and there is no God beside Him. One that speaks concerning its meaning is speaking only according to what is shown to him, and no-one can say: "This interpretation is what Allah meant" categorically. [62]

The disagreement, in the final analysis, is verbal. Hence, many of the latter-day authoritative scholars have avoided designating the interpretation (ta`yin al-ta'wil) as any given item among the suitable items of a word, leaving its designation to Allah's knowledge. This is a median position between the two schools and a pleasing taste of the two springs. Ibn Daqiq al-`Id chose another median position, saying:

If interpretation stems from an evident and prevalent figurative understanding, then it ought to be applied without reserve. If it stems from a far-fetched, aberrant figurative understanding, then it ought to be left out. If one is as good as the other, then difference in its permissibility or impermissibility is a matter of juridical effort. This matter does not present any danger to the two sides of the argument.

I say: Reserving judgment in this matter is only for lack of a preponderant alternative, although reserving judgment is supported by the position of the Salaf, among them the Greatest Imam [Abu Hanifa], and Allah knows best.[/i]

Al-Qadi [`Iyad] said:

[i]What is meant by His descent is the approach of His Mercy, the increase of His kindness toward His servants, and the acceptance of their contrition, in the custom of generous kings and clement liege-lords when they alight near a needy, suffering and weak people.

It was narrated: "Allah comes down from the highest heaven to the lowest heaven." [63] That is: He shifts from all that is necessitated by the Attributes of Majesty - such as the rejection of the arrogant, indifference to them, the subduing of enemies, and the exacting of punishment from the wicked - to all that is necessitated by the Attributes of Beauty, such as forbearance, mercy, the acceptance of contrition, gentleness toward the destitute, fulfillment of needs, leniency and alleviation in the commands and prohibitions, and pardon towards apparent sins. Hence it was said that this is a figural manifestation (tajalli suri) and not a real descent (nuzul haqiqi). The difficulty is thereby resolved, and Allah knows best. [64]






NOTES

[1] Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Malik, and al-Darimi. It is narrated from twenty-three Companions, as stated by al-Kattani in Nazm al-Mutanathir.

[2] Ibn `Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari (p. 151).

[3] As quoted by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (Hashidi ed. 2:371).

[4] Ibn al-Juwayni, al-Nizamiyya (p. 20).

[5] Narrated from Abu Sa`id al-Khudri and Abu Hurayra by al-Nasa'i in al-Sunan al-Kubra (6:124 #10316) and `Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla (ed. Faruq Hammada p. 340 #482). Al-Qari declared it sound in Mirqat al-Mafatih (1994 ed. 3:299).

[6] Narrated by al-Bazzar, Kashf al-Astar (4:44); al-Tabarani, al-Kabir (9:51). Al-Haythami declared it sound in Majma` al-Zawa'id (10:209). Also narrated - with a weak chain - by Ahmad in his Musnad.

[7] Narrated from Habib ibn Abi Habib by al-Dhahabi in Syar A`lam al-Nubala' (8:418), but al-Dhahabi himself reported in Mizan al-I`tidal (1:452) that all of Ibn Abi Habib's narrations are forged. This is an extreme statement in light of Ibn `Abd al-Barr's mention of Habib in al-Tamhid (24:177) as merely weak, and he adds: "His reports from Malik are full of mistakes and condemned matters." However, Ibn `Abd al-Barr in al-Tamhid (7:143) also narrates this report from Habib, then goes on to narrate it from Mutarrif with a sound chain, adding: "It is possible that the matter be as Malik said, and Allah knows best." The "Salafis" reject the report because of Habib's weakness, but Mutarrif's chain does not contain him.

[8] As mentioned by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan (Book of zakat, hadith "Verily, Allah accepts the zakat and takes it with His right Hand..."), Ibn al-Jawzi in his Daf` Shubah al-Tashbih (p. 195-196), al-Dhahabi in Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' (al-Arna'ut ed. 8:105), Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, al-Jami` (p. 124), and others.

[9] Al-Bayhaqi, al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (Kawthari ed. p. 456, Hashidi ed. 2:380).

[10] Ibn al-Jawzi, Daf` Shubah al-Tashbih (p. 196).

[11] Ibid. (p. 192).

[12] Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Bukhari and Muslim: "I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me. If he mentions Me in Himself I mention him in Myself. If he mentions Me in a gathering, I mention him in a better gathering. If he comes near Me one hand-span (shibran) I come near him one cubit (dhira`an). If he comes near Me one cubit I come near him an arm's length (ba`an). If he comes to Me walking, I come to him running."

[13] Al-Baji, al-Muntaqa (1:357).

[14] See the al-Baji's explanation of this hadith in the post "Abu al-Walid al-Baji."

[15] Ibn `Abd al-Salam, al-Ishara ila al-Ijaz (p. 106).

[16] `Abd al-`Aziz bin Baz inserted the following footnote at this point: "What he means by `the vast majority of the scholars' is the vast majority of the scholars of kalam. As for Ahl al-Sunna - and these are the Companions and those who followed them in excellence - they assert a direction for Allah, and that is the direction of height, believing that the Exalted is above the Throne without giving an example and without entering into modality. The proofs from the Qur'an and the Sunna for this are innumerable, so take heed and beware. And Allah knows best."

[17] Ibn Hajar elsewhere reports Ibn Daqiq al-`Id's words in full: "We say concerning the various attributes that they are real and true according to the meaning Allah wills for them. As for those who interpret them, we look at their interpretation: if it is close to the rules of language in use among the Arabs we do not reject it, and if it is far from them we relinquish it and return to believing while declaring transcendence." In Fath al-Bari (1959 ed. 13:383).

[18] Again Bin Baz here interjects: "This is an obvious mistake which goes against the plain import of the texts that have come to us concerning the descent, and likewise what is cited of Baydawi later is null and void. The correct position is that of the Pious Salaf who believed in the descent and let the texts pass as they came to them, affirming Allah's descent in the sense that befits Him, without asking how nor giving an example, just as the rest of His attributes. That is the safest, straightest, most knowledgeable, and wisest way. Therefore hold on to it, cling to it stubbornly, and beware what contravenes it so that you may reach safety. And Allah knows best." The gist of these remarks is that Bin Baz refuses to preclude displacement from Allah.

[19] See above, n. 5

[20] See above, n. 6.

[21] Narrated from Rifa`a ibn `Araba al-Juhani as part of a longer hadith by al-Darimi in his Musnad, Ahmad in his, al-Nasa'i in `Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla, Ibn Majah in his Sunan, al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (5:49-51 #4556-4558), Ibn Hibban with a sound chain in his Sahih according to al-Arna'ut (1:444 #212), al-Tayalisi in his Musnad (p. 182 #1292), al-Bazzar in his. Al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa'id (10:408) said that some of al-Tabarani's and al-Bazzar's chains are sound.

[22] Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari (1989 ed. 3:37-38; 1959 ed. 3:32-33 #1094).

[23] Narrated by al-Dhahabi who identifies the scholar as Ibrahim ibn [Hisham] Abi Salih in Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 191 #234).

[24] See n. 40.

[25] In al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (2:375-376 #951),

[26] Quoted in al-Dhahabi, Siyar (8:213).

[27] Al-Dhahabi in Mizan al-I`tidal (3:479) said of Ibn Mandah: "He became confused towards the end of his life... and attributed to a number of scholars sayings pertaining to doctrine which they were not known to hold."

[28] In Majmu` Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya (5:376-380).

[29] Jubayr ibn Mut`im, Abu Bakr, `Ali, Ibn Mas`ud, `Ubada ibn al-Samit, Rufa`a ibn `Uraba, Jabir, `Uthman ibn Abi al`As, Abu al-Darda', Anas, `Amr ibn `Abasa, Ibn `Abbas, Umm Salama, Abu Musa al-Ash`ari, and others, see al-Daraqutni's monograph which compiles all their narrations.

[30] As quoted by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (2:378-379 #956).

[31] Al-Khattabi, Ma`alim al-Sunan (Hims ed. 5:101).

[32] Quoted in Abu Hanifa, Kitab al-Fiqh al-Akbar bi Sharh al-Qari (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-`Arabiyya al-Kubra, 1327/1909) p. 16; cf. al-Maturidi, Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar in Majmu`a Rasa'il (Hyderabad: Matba`at Majlis Da'irat al- Ma`arif al-Nizamiyya, 1903).

[33] In al-Fisal fi al-Milal (2:125).

[34] As cited in al-Kawthari's marginalia on Daf` Shubah al-Tashbih (1998 repr. p. 50). Note that `Uthman ibn Sa`id al-Darimi stated: "We do not concede that all actions are created.... The descent, the walking, the running (al-harwala), and the establishment on the Throne and to the heaven are eternal without beginning (qadim)." In his Naqd al-Jahmiyya (Cairo, 1361/1942 p. 121) as quoted in al-Kawthari's Maqalat (p. 314). Ibn Hazm rejected this position in al-Fisal (2:124): "If the establishment on the Throne is eternal without beginning, then the Throne is eternal without beginning, and this is disbelief."

[35] In al-Tawdih `an Tawhid al-Khallaq Fi Jawab Ahl al-`Iraq (1319/1901) p.

[34]. New ed.: al-Riyad: Dar Tibah, 1984.

[36] Note that in our time Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani revived the claim that Allah is in a place above the Throne which he called al-makan al-`adami ("the inexistential place") in his introduction to al-Dhahabi's Mukhtasar al-`Uluw. He was refuted by Shaykh Hasan `Ali al-Saqqaf in his book Talqih al-Fuhum al-`Aliya ("The Inculcation of Lofty Discernment").

[37] Ibn `Abd al-Barr, al-Tamhid (7:128-131). See also al-Haytami's fatwa "Is it permissible to say that `Allah is in the heaven'?" and Nuh Keller's article "Is it permissible for a Muslim to believe that `Allah is in the sky' in a literal sense?" as well as the discussion on istiwa' in the forthcoming post, "Istiwa' is a Divine Act".

[38] Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt recited a funeral eulogy for the disbelievers who died at Badr and died during the siege of al-Ta'if. Ibn Hajar said in al-Isaba (1:133 #549): "There is no contest among the authorities in history that Umayya ibn Abi Salt died an unbeliever."

[39] This wording is not established as authentic: See the relevant discussion in our biographical notice on Imam Malik - Allah be well-pleased with him.

[40] Also related from Ishaq ibn Rahuyah as narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (2:375-376 #951) and al-Dhahabi in Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 191 #234) and the Siyar (9:558 #1877); Fudayl ibn `Iyad as related from al-Athram by Bukhari in Khalq Af`al al-`Ibad (p. 14); Yahya ibn Ma`in as cited by Lalika'i in Sharh Usul I`tiqad Ahl al-Sunna. The latter two are cited by Ibn Taymiyya in Majmu`a al-Fatawa (5:377).

[41] Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Muslim and Ahmad.

[42] The scholars also often quote al-Shafi`i's saying that when he first arrived in Egypt they did not understand him, whereupon "I descended, and descended, and descended until they understood me."

[43] Imam Malik said: "It is our Lord's command which descends." Narrated by Ibn `Abd al-Barr himself in al-Tamhid (7:143) from Mutarrif with a sound chain. He then admits: "It is possible that the matter be as Malik said, and Allah knows best."

[44] Ibn al-`Arabi, Arida al-Ahwadhi (2:234-237).

[45] In Tarh al-Tathrib (2:382).

[46] Imam Abu al-Walid al-Baji, Sulayman ibn Khalaf al-Maliki al-Qurtubi.

[47] Perhaps a reference to his commentary on Ibn Abi Zayd's Risala (Dibaj p. 262).

[48] In Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra (9:78).

[49] In Fath al-Bari (1959 ed. 3:32 #1094), as quoted above.

[50] See n. 7.

[51] See n. 5.

[52] Attributed to Hammad ibn Zayd by al-Bayhaqi (al-Asma' wa al-Sifat, al-Kawthari ed. p. 456, al-Hashidi ed. 2:380) as stated.

[53] Note the strong affirmation of both the reality of the Attributes and Allah's transcendence which is the mark of the accomplished scolars of Ahl al-Sunna in doctrine.

[54] Al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, Book of Salat al-Musafirin wa Qasruha.

[55] See al-Buti's excellent discussion of these two types in al-Salafiyya (p. 132-144), translated in Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's Islamic Beliefs and Doctrine According to Ahl al-Sunna (p. 117-134) and his Encyclopedia of Islamic Knowledge (1:106-119).

[56] "The understanding of istiwa' as Allah's turning to a particular command concerning the Throne is not far-fetched, and this is the ta'wil of Imam Sufyan al-Thawri, who took as corroborating evidence for it the verse: {Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke} (41:11), meaning: "He proceeded to it" (qasada ilayha)." In al-Yafi`i, Marham al-`Ilal (p. 245) and Abu al-Ma`ali Ibn al-Juwayni, al-Irshad (p. 59-60).

[57] Narrated from `Abd Allah ibn `Amr by Muslim, from Anas by al-Tirmidhi (hasan sahih), and from al-Nawwas ibn Sam`an by Ahmad, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, al-Hakim, and others, all with sound chains. Al-Hakim declared the hadith sound and al-Dhahabi concurred. The continuation of the hadith states that the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- used to say: "O Transformer of hearts! Make firm our hearts in Your Religion," and that he also said: "And the balance is in the Merciful's hand, He elevates a people while he abases others, and so until the Day of Resurrection."

[58] Narrated from Ibn `Abbas, Jabir, Anas, and others by Ibn Abi `Umar al-Ma`dani in his Musnad, al-Tabarani, al-Suyuti in his Jami` al-saghir (1:516 #3804-3805), Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq (15:90- 92), al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad (6:328), and others. It is considered forged by Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn `Adi (al-Kamil 1:342). Cf. al-Ahdab, Zawa'id Tarikh Baghdad (5:321-323 #949). However, al-`Ajluni stated that it is sahih as a halted report from Ibn `Abbas as narrated by al-Quda`i in the wording: "The Corner [of the Black Stone] (al-rukn) is Allah's Right Hand on earth...," and declared it hasan as a hadith of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --. Ibn Qutayba in Ta'wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith (1972 ed. p. 215; 1995 ed. p. 198, 262) said that it was a saying of Ibn `Abbas and relates a saying of `A'isha that the Black Stone is the depository of the covenant of human souls with Allah on the Day of Promise (alastu bi rabbikum). Its mention in the Reliance of the Traveller (p. 853b) as "narrated by al-Hakim, who declared it sahih, from `Abd Allah ibn `Amr," is incorrect.

[59] On the various positions on this question, see Ibn Kathir's Tafsir for this verse, Zakariyya al-Ansari's al-Muqsid li Talkhis Ma fi al-Murshid (p. 45) and especially al-Dani's (d. 444) al-Muktafa fi al-Waqf wa al-Ibtida'.

[60] As al-Qari goes on to say the majority stop at Allah's name, but both readings are possible, as stated by al-Suyuti in al-Itqan (1:264), al-Raghib in Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an, Zakariyya al-Ansari in al-Muqsid li Talkhis Ma fi al-Murshid (p. 45), al-Dani in al-Muktafa (p. 195-197), and others. The Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- defined {those who are firmly grounded in knowledge} (3:7) as "Those whose oaths are kept, whose tongues are truthful, whose hearts are upright, and whose stomachs and genitals are abstinent. They are among {those who are firmly grounded in knowledge}." Narrated from Abu al-Darda', Abu Umama, Wathila, and Anas by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (8:152 #7658), and from Ibn `Abbas by al-Hakim (`Ata' ed. 8:152 #7658) with a sound chain as confirmed by al-Dhahabi.

[61] Among the Salaf, Ibn Qutayba in his Ta'wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith took the position chosen by al-`Iraqi. This is also the position of Dr. al-Buti in his book Min Rawa'i` al-Qur'an.

[62] Cf. Fakhr al-Islam al-Pazdawi's remarks: "For us [Maturidis], {those who are firmly grounded in knowledge} (3:7) have no share in the knowledge ofthe ambiguous content of Qur'an (al-mutashabih) other than to pure acquiescence (al-taslim), believing in the real nature of the meaning (haqqiyya al-murad) in Allah's presence and that the pause at His saying: {None knows its explanation save Allah} (3:7) is required (waqf wajib). The People of Belief belong to one of two levels in knowledge: some over-zealously demand that it be read without pause - those are tested with a form of ignorance - and some demand the pause - those are honored with a form of knowledge.... An example of the ambiguous verses are the individual letters that open certain suras. Another example is the affirmation of Allah's vision with the sight of the eyes in reality in the hereafter, according to the explicit text of the Qur'an: {On that day will faces be resplendent, looking towards their Lord} (75:22-23). For He exists with the attribute of perfection, and the fact that He can be seen both by Himself and others, is among the characteristics of perfection; moreover, the believer is apt to receive such bestowal of Allah's gift. However, the affirmation of direction is precluded (ithbat al-jiha mumtani'). It follows that the description of the vision is among the ambiguities, ans so it is obligatory to acquiesce to it while believing in its reality. Similarly, the affirmation of the Hand and the Face are real (ithbat al-yad wa al-wajh haqq) in our school, known through its principle but ambiguous through its description (ma'lumun bi aslihi mutashabihun bi wasfihi). It will not be permitted to invalidate the principle on the grounds that one is unable to comprehend the description. The Mu'tazila went astray only in this respect, for they rejected the principles because of their ignorance of the Attributes - and they became nullifiers-of-Allah's-attributes (mu'attila)." In 'Ala' al-Din al-Bukhari's (d. 730) commentary on al-Pazdawi's Usul entitled Kashf al-Asrar (1:55-60). 'Ala' al-Din al-Bukhari comments: (1:60) "By saying: 'For us,' the Shaykh shunned the position of those who say: 'Allah is not to be described as possessing a face and hands, rather, what is meant by the face is contentment (al-rida) or the Essence (al-dhat) and the like; and what is meant by the hand is power or favor and the like.' The Shaykh therefore said: Rather, Allah is described with the attribute of Face and that of Hand, together with the upholding of His transcendence (tanzih) above having a form (sura) and a limb (jariha).... Similarly with the affirmation of modality (ithbat al-kayfiyya): its description is ambiguous, therefore it is obligatory to acquiesce to it, firmly believing in its reality without busying oneself with interpretation."

[63] Narrated from Abu al-Khattab by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (22:370 #927) with a weak chain as indicated by al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa'id.

[64] Al-Qari, Mirqat al-Mafatih (1892 ed. 2:136-137, 1994 ed. 3:298-301).


Allah's blessings and peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions.

Refutation against placing a direction for Allah

Ahl al-Sunna Refutations of Those Who Attribute a Direction to Allah


* Imam Bukhari (d. 256) believed that Allah exists without a place as stated by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari. Ibn Hajar repeats in many places that Allah is clear of places.

* Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 311) said in his commentary on the verse "Then turned He (thumma istawa) to the heaven" (2:29):

The meaning of istiwa' in this verse is height and elevation... but if one claims that this means displacement for Allah, tell him: He is high and elevated over the heaven with the height of sovereignty and power, not the height of displacement and movement to and fro.

* Imam al-Ash`ari (d. 324) said in the authentic version of his Ibana published by Dar al-ansar and edited by Fawqiyya Husayn Mahmud:

Allah is established on the Throne in the sense that He said and the meaning that He wills, with an establishment that transcends touch, settlement, location, immanence, and displacement. The Throne does not carry him, rather the Throne and its carriers are carried by the subtleness of His power, subdued under His grip, and He is above the Throne and above everything down to the extremities of the lower earth, with an aboveness that does not make him any closer to the Throne or to the heavens. Rather, He is as exalted high over the Throne as He is exalted high over the lower earth, and together with this He is near every creature, and He is nearer to His servant than his jugular vein, and He is witness over everything.

* Shahrastani (d. 548) relates that Imam Ash`ari also said:

The vision of Allah does not entail direction, place, or form, or face to face encounter either by impingement of rays or by impression, all of which are impossible.

* Mulla `Ali al-Qari states in Sharh `ayn al-`ilm:

It is obligatory that you believe that your God... is not contained in any place or direction.

He states in Sharh al-fiqh al-akbar:

Allah is not located in a place, whether above or below, or any other than these, and time is inapplicable to Him, unlike what the mushabbiha and mujassima and hululiyya or incarnationists believe.

He also cites in Sharh al-Mishkat al-hafiz Zayn al-Din al-`Iraqi's statement that all Four Imams agree that anyone who believes Allah lies in a specific direction has committed disbelief.

* Al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam does not declare those who attribute a direction to Allah to be disbelievers but only innovators:

The correct position is that the one who holds belief in Allah's direction is not declared a disbeliever, because the scholars of Islam did not bring such as these out of Islam, rather, they adjudicated inheritance from Muslims for them, burial in Muslim grounds, sanctity of their blood and property, and the obligation to pray over their remains. The same is true of all the upholders of innovations.

* Imam Ghazali said in his al-Iqtisad fi al-i`tiqad:

The Hashwiyya asserted direction for Allah while guarding themselves from divesting Allah of His attributes (ta`til), falling thereby into likening Allah to creation (tashbih).

Allah has granted success to Ahl al-Sunna in establishing the truth. They have recognized the proper goal in establishing their method, and understood that direction is denied and disallowed for Allah because it pertains to bodies and complements them; while vision of Him is firmly established because it directly follows knowledge and attends it as its perfecting component.

* Ibn al-Jawzi says in his Daf` shubah al-tashbih:

Some claim the verses "Good words ascend to Him" (35:10) and "He is the Omnipotent over His servants" (6:18, 6:61) as proof that He is above in sensory fashion, forgetting that sensory aboveness is only applicable to bodies or atoms, and that aboveness can also be expressed for loftiness of rank.

Furthermore, just as He said: "above His servants," He also said: "and He is with you" (57:4). Therefore whoever interprets the latter as meaning "with you in knowledge," permits his counterpart to interpret istiwa' (in 20:4) as "subduing" (al-qahr)....

Abu Ya`la says: "What is meant by "aboveness" is Allah's istiwa' in person on the Throne, which is a limit for him in the direction that is bounded by the Throne. As for the other directions, such as above, behind, in front, and left, they are not bounded." I say: these words are the very root of anthropomorphism, because what bounds is either greater or smaller than what is bounded, and these dimensions only apply to bodies.

* Ibn Hajar states in Fath al-bari:

The fact that the two directions of "above" and "below" are inapplicable and impossible for Allah does not preclude His being described with the attribute of elevation (`uluw), for such description is only from the standpoint of the meaning of elevation, not that of sensory perception.

Al-Kirmani said: "The outward meaning of the saying: "He Who is in the heaven" (man fi al-sama') is not meant. Allah is transcendent above immanence and place. However, because the direction of aboveness is nobler than any other direction, Allah linked it to Him to indicate the loftiness of the Essence and the Attributes." He addresses the other expressions of aboveness in the same manner.

* Ibn al-Hammam al-Hanafi (d. 681) said in al-Musayara, a commentary on Ghazali's tenets of belief:

The seventh foundation of Islamic belief is that Allah, the Exalted, is not characterized by a direction, because directions -- above, below, right, etc. -- are created with creatures... and if, by "direction" other than that is meant, which does not suggest the immanence of boundaries or corporeality, let it be made plain (i.e. that it is a loftiness of rank, not space), so that it can be examined whether it belongs truly to transcendence, and if it is misphrased or other than that, then it must be shown to be corrupt.

* Imam al-Yafi`i (d. 768) in the end of his Kitab marham al-`ilal al-mu`dila devotes an entire chapter to the refutation of the anthropomorphists. The title of the chapter is: Bayan al-istidlal `ala nafi al-jiha wa al-jismiyya wa batalan madhhab man qala bihima min al-karramiyya wa al-hashwiyya wa muta'akhkhiri al-hanbaliyya (The exposition of the proofs upon which are based the negation of direction and corporeality and the invalidity of the school of those who assert them among the karramiyya and the hashwiyya and the late Hanbalis). It begins with the words:

The true Imam and teacher of the scholars of kalam, Imam al-Haramayn said: "The madhhab of the People of Truth (Ahl al-Sunna) is absolutely unanimous on the question that Allah is exalted above boundaries and above being characterized by directions. The Karramiyya and some of the Hashwiyya have said that He is bounded and that He is characterized by the direction of aboveness... and each of these two positions is tantamount to declaring that Allah has a dimension or that He has parts, and constitutes pure disbelief."... I quoted this from his book al-Irshad.

* Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi al-Maliki (d. 543) labels the believers in Allah's direction "followers of Pharaoh" in his `Aridat al-ahwadhi:

Your conclusion shows that you are indeed the followers of Pharaoh, who believed that the Creator lies in a certain direction, and so he desired to climb up to Him on a ladder. He congratulates you for being among his followers, and he is your imam!

* Even Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri (d. 456), the arch-enemy of Ash`ari and the Ash`ari school, says in al-Fasl fi al-milal:

By no means whatsoever is Allah in a place or in a time. This is the position of the vast majority of the scholars (al-jumhur) and ours as well, and other than this position is not permissible, for anything other than it is false.


Ibn Hajar, Fath al-bari 13:357; Cf. 3:23, 6:102, 13:309, 328, 351, 354, 355, 357, 366, 369-370, 414.
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tafsir 1:192.
al-Ash`ari, al-Ibana `an usul al-diyana, ed. Fawqiyya Husayn Mahmud (Cairo: dar al-Ansar, 1977), p. 21.
Shahrastani, al-Milal wa al-nihal as translated by A.K. Kazi and J.G. Flynn, Muslim Sects and Divisions (London: Kegan Paul International, 1984) p. 85.
al-Qari, Sharh `ayn al-`ilm wa zayn al-hilm 1:34; Sharh al-fiqh al-akbar (Beirut: dar al-kutub al-`ilmiyya, 1404/1984) p. 57; al-Mirqat, cited by Kawthari, Maqalat p. 321, 362.
al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam, Fatawa p. 151, 153.
al-Ghazali, al-Iqtisad fi al-i`tiqad (Beirut: dar al-kutub al-`ilmiyya, 1409/1988) p. 48.
Ibn al-Jawzi, Daf` shubah al-tashbih p. 131, 135, 260.
Ibn Hajar, Fath al-bari 6:136 (Jihad).
Ibid. 13:412.
Ibn al-Hammam, al-Musayara p. 16-17.
al-Yafi`i, Marham al-`ilal al-mu`dila, ed. E. Denison Ross (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1910) p. 244, 246.
Abu Bakr Ibn al-`Arabi, `Aridat al-ahwadhi 2:235.
Ibn Hazm, al-Fasl fi al-milal wa al-ahwa' wa al-nihal 2:125.

Allah's establishment on the throne

istiwa' Allah `ala al-`arsh

We continue listing the positions of the scholars of Ahl al-Sunna in establishing the sound understanding and refuting the unsound understanding of the attributes mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunna.

· Umm Salama the Prophet's wife said the following about istiwa' as quoted by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-bari: "The establishment is not unknown (ghayr majhul) and its modality is inconceivable in the mind (ghayr ma`qul); one does not ask "how" about Him; "how" is inapplicable to Him."

· Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161) forwarded an interpretation of istiwa' in verse 20:4 as "a command concerning the Throne" (amrun fi al-`arsh), according to Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d. 478) in his al-Irshad ila qawati` al-adilla fi usul al-i`tiqad (The guidance to the decisive proofs in the foundations of belief), as quoted by al-Yafi`i in the latter's book Kitab marham al-`ilal al-mu`dila fi daf` al-shubah wa al-radd `ala al-mu`tazila (Book of the resolution of difficult problems for the removal of doubts and the refutation of the Mu`tazila):

The understanding of istiwa' as Allah's turning to a particular command concerning the Throne is not far-fetched, and this is the ta'wil of Imam Sufyan al-Thawri, who took as corroborating evidence for it the verse: "Then turned He (istawa) to the heaven when it was smoke" (41:11).

· Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150) says in his Wasiyya: "Had He been in a place and needing to sit and rest before creating the Throne, then the question 'Where was Allah?' would have applied to Him, which is impossible... We assert that Allah is established on the throne without His need (haja) nor settlement (istiqrar) upon it, for He it is Who preserves the Throne and other than it without needing any of them."

He said in his al-Fiqh al-akbar: "Allah has no limits, nor any rivals... He who says: 'I do not know if my Lord is in the heavens or on the earth' is a disbeliever, and he who says: 'He is on the Throne, and I do not know whether the Throne is in the heaven or on the earth,' he is also a disbeliever." Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi explained this to mean: "The reason is that by such words he suggests a place for Allah and this is idolatry."

· A man asked Imam Malik (d. 179): "How did Allah make istiwa' on the throne?" Imam Malik inclined his head and was silent until the sweat of fever covered his brow, then he looked up and said: "Istiwa' is not unknown (ghayru majhul), the modality of it is inconceivable in the mind (al-kayfu minhu ghayru ma`qul); but belief in it is obligatory, and inquiring about it is a heretical innovation. You are an innovator." And he gave orders for him to be taken out.

· Imam Shafi`i (d. 204) in his small treatise entitled al-Fiqh al-akbar said: "Whoever says: al-Rahmanu `ala al-`arsh istawa, it is said to him: This verse is one of the mutashabih (ambiguous matter) concerning which one is perplexed to give an answer, and the same is said regarding similar verses."

· Others who list the verse of istiwa' among the mutashabihat are Imam Malik ibn Anas, the fuqaha' of Madina, and al-Asma`i according to Abu Mansur `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi in Usul al-Din.

· The Imam of Ahl al-Sunna, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash`ari (d. 324), says in his Al-ibana fi usul al-diyana: "Allah is above the heavens, above the Throne, above everything, with a loftiness (fawqiyya) which does not make Him any closer to the Throne or the heavens, just as it does not make Him any further from the earth. He is close to everything in existence, He is closer to the servant than his jugular vein, and He is a witness over all things."

He also says, as reported by Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi in Usul al-Din: "Allah's establishment on the Throne is an action He has created named istiwa' and related to the Throne, just as He has created an action named ityan (coming) related to a certain people; and this implies neither descent nor movement."

· Al-hafiz Abu Hatim Ibn Hibban al-Busti (d. 354) flatly denied that Allah had limits and was expelled from Sijistan under pain of death by the anthropomorphists, as mentioned above.

· Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310) said in his Tafsir: "Allah made himself exalted over the heaven with the exaltation of sovereignty and power, not that of displacement and movement."

· Imam Abu Mansur `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 429) in Usul al-Din says: "The correct position according to us is the interpretation of the Throne in this verse to mean the sovereignty (al-mulk), as if He meant that the sovereignty has not been established for any but Him. This interpretation is taken from the saying of the Arabs: "So-and-so's Throne has toppled" if he lost his power." He then cites three examples from poetry illustrating this. He says about the characteristics of Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a in his al-Farq bayn al-firaq (The differences between the sects): "Ahl al-Sunna are in consensus (ajma`u) that Allah, the Flawless, the Exalted, is not bounded by location." He then reports the saying of Sayidina `Ali: "Allah created the Throne as an indication of His power, not for taking it as a place for Himself."

· Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d. 478) said in his al-Irshad as quoted by al-Yafi`i in the latter's book Kitab marham al-`ilal al-mu`dila:

Care must be taken to show the vulgar anthropomorphists (hashwiyya) the verses upon which they do practice ta'wil so that when they invoke as proof of their belief in Allah's "settling" (istiqrar) the external meaning of "The Merciful is established on the Throne" (20:4), ask them for the meaning of "And He is with you wheresoever you are" (57:4). If they take the latter according to its external sense also, then they annul the external sense of His being established on the Throne which they claim, and they also proclaim the disgrace of their beliefs for all resonable persons to see; however, if they understand it as referring to His encompassing us with His knowledge, then they have applied ta'wil, and it is no longer forbidden for us to do the same in interpreting His establishment as "subduing" (qahara) and "prevailing over" (ghalaba), as is permitted by the Arabic language... Moreover, istiwa' in the sense of istiqrar, or settling, presupposes a prior state of disturbance, and to hold this is disbelief (kufr)....

If they say: Why don't you let the verse pass according to its external sense without interpreting it, and only say that it is among the mutashabihat whose meaning only Allah knows? We say: If the questioner wants to let istiwa' pass according to the external sense it commonly suggests, which is physical settlement, then such a sense drives us to anthropomorphism, but if that is explicitly shown to be impossible, then the external sense ceases... at which time it is not far-fetched to understand the verse rightly and reasonably according to the demands of the divine Law and the obligation to avoid ta'wil, lest wrong belief results.

· Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali (d. 505) says almost the same thing as Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi in the Ihya', section on qawa`id wa `aqa'id (principles and doctrines), and something related to it in the Iljam which we have excerpted already.

· The grammarian al-Raghib (d. 507?) says: "The expression istawa `ala has the meaning of istila' or holding mastery over something, as in the verse of Qur'an: al-rahmanu `ala al-`arsh istawa... It means that everything is alike in relation to Him in such manner that no one thing is nearer to Him than another thing, since He is not like the bodies that abide in one place exclusive of another place."

· Imam Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 606) in his al-Tafsir al-kabir says in his commentary to verse 19:93: "Since it is affirmed by this verse that "All those in the heavens and the earth must come to Allah as His slave," and since it is obligatory that Allah is clear of being a slave, He is therefore clear of being in a place or direction, or on the Throne or the Chair."

· Imam Abu Mansur Ibn `Asakir (d. 620) says in his `Aqida: "It must not be said: When was He, or where was He, or how was He. He exists without a place."

· Ibn al-Jawzi said: "Whoever says: He is established on the Throne "in person" (bi dhatihi), has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception. Such a person must not neglect that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively. If you said: We read the hadiths and keep quiet, no one would criticize you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous. Therefore do not bring into the school of this pious man of the Salaf -- Imam Ahmad -- what does not belong in it. You have clothed this madhhab with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said "Hanbali" except in the sense of "anthropomorphist"....

Then they say: We take them according to their external senses. O wonder! What is the "external sense" of what Allah alone knows? Is the "external sense" of istiwa' other than sitting down? and is the "external sense" of nuzul other than displacement?...

They said: He is established on the Throne "in person." But this addition is not related by anyone! It is only what they understood with their senses, namely, that one is not established other than with his own person...

· Imam al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam (d. 660) was asked in his Fatawa: "What do you say about Abu Zayd al-Qayrawani al-Maliki's (d. 386) saying: "Allah is above His exalted Throne in person (bi dhatihi), and He is in every place with His knowledge": Does such an affirmation attribute a direction to Allah or not? And is the one who holds such belief declared a disbeliever (kafir) or not?" He replied: "The apparent meaning of what Ibn Abi Zayd said attributes direction for Allah, because he has made a difference between Allah's being on the Throne and His being with His creation. As for the second question: the more correct position is that the one who holds belief in Allah's direction is not declared a disbeliever, because the scholars of Islam did not bring such as these out of Islam, rather, they adjudicated inheritance from Muslims for them, burial in Muslim grounds, sanctity of their blood and property, and the obligation to pray over their remains. The same is true of all the upholders of innovations: People never ceased to apply to them the rulings that apply to Muslims. Pay no attention to what the common people claim about their disbelief."

· Imam Nawawi (d. 676) said in Sharh al-muhadhdhab: "It is said: We believe that the Merciful is established over the Throne, and we do not know the reality of the meaning of this nor what is meant by it (la na`lamu haqiqata mi`na dhalika wa al-murada bihi), while we do believe that "There is nothing like Him whatsoever" and that He is exalted far above the most elevated of created things. That is the way of the Salaf or at least their vast majority, and it is the safest because one is not required to probe into such matters."

· Ibn al-Hammam al-Hanafi (d. 681) said in al-Musayara: "It is obligatory to believe that Allah is established on the Throne while negating any likeness to creation. As for saying that His establishment (istiwa') is a conquering (istila'), it is permissible but not obligatory since there is no evidence for it specifically... However, if it is feared that the common people will not understand istiwa' without conceiving of contact and other corporeal characteristics, and if they do not negate the latter, then there is no harm in directing their understanding to istila', as its usage and meaning for istiwa' is established in language from the poet's saying: "Bishr has conquered (istawa `ala) Iraq" and "When we towered above them and conquered them (istawayna `alayhim)..."

· Shaykh `Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's (d. 1143) statement already quoted: "Whoever believes that Allah permeates the Heavens and the Earth, or that He is a body sitting on His Throne, is a disbeliever, even if he thinks he is a Muslim."

· Al-Dhahabi disavowed the term "in person": "There is no need for this expression, and it disturbs the soul."

· Ibn Hajar also rejected the statement that Allah is on the Throne "in person" as equally preposterous as saying that He is everywhere:

Some of the Mu`tazila have claimed that Allah was everywhere on the basis of the hadith "If one of you stands in prayer, let him not spit in front of him for Allah is in front of him." This is evident ignorance, because the hadith then states that he should spit under his foot, which invalidates their principle. The hadith also constitutes a refutation of those who say that Allah is on the Throne "in person."

· Even Sulayman ibn `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1817 CE), the Wahhabi founder's grandson, declared as unbeliever anyone who used the term "in person" in relation to Allah being in a place, whether one place or an infinite number: "Whoever believes or says: Allah is in person (bi dhatihi) in every place, or in one place: he is a disbeliever (kafir). It is obligatory to declare that Allah is distinct from His creation, established over His throne without modality or likeness or examplarity. Allah was and there was no place, then He created place and He is exalted as He was before He created place."

Is Allah in the sky?

Is it permissible for a Muslim
to believe that Allah is in the
sky in literal sense?
©Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995



No. The literal sense of being "in the sky" would mean that Allah is actually in one of His creatures, for the sky is something created. It is not permissible to believe that Allah indwells or occupies (in Arabic, hulul) any of His creatures, as the Christians believe about Jesus, or the Hindus about their avatars.
What is obligatory for a human being to know is that Allah is ghaniyy or "absolutely free from need" of anything He has created. He explicitly says in surat al-Ankabut of the Qur'an,

"Verily Allah is absolutely free of need of anything in the worlds" (Qur'an 29:6).
Allah mentions this attribute of ghina or "freedom of need for anything whatsoever" in some seventeen verses in the Qur'an. It is a central point of Islamic `aqida or faith, and is the reason why it is impossible that Allah could be Jesus (upon whom be peace) or be anyone else with a body and form: because bodies need space and time, while Allah has absolutely no need for anything. This is the `aqida of the Qur'an, and Muslim scholars have kept it in view in understanding other Qur'anic verses or hadiths.
Muslims lift their hands toward the sky when they make supplications (du'a) to Allah because the sky is the qibla for du'a, not that Allah occupies that particular direction--just as the Kaaba is the qibla of the prayer (salat), without Muslims believing that Allah is in that direction. Rather, Allah in His wisdom has made the qibla a sign (ayah) of Muslim unity, just as He has made the sky the sign of His exaltedness and His infinitude, meanings which come to the heart of every believer merely by facing the sky and supplicating Allah.

It was part of the divine wisdom to incorporate these meanings into the prophetic sunna to uplift the hearts of the people who first heard them, and to direct them to the exaltedness and infinitude of Allah through the greatest and most palpable physical sign of them: the visible sky that Allah had raised above them. Many of them, especially when newly from the Jahiliyya or "pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance", were extremely close to physical, perceptible realities and had little conception of anything besides--as is attested to by their idols, which were images set up on the ground. Umar ibn al-Khattab mentions, for example, that in the Jahiliyya, they might make their idols out of dates, and if they later grew hungry, they would simply eat them. The language of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) in conveying the exaltedness of Allah Most High to such people was of course in terms they could understand without difficulty, and used the imagery of the sky above them. Imam al-Qurtubi, the famous Qur'anic exegete of the seventh/thirteenth century, says:

The hadiths on this subject are numerous, rigorously authenticated (sahih), and widely known, and indicate the exaltedness of Allah, being undeniable by anyone except an atheist or obstinate ignoramus. Their meaning is to dignify Allah and exalt Him above all that is base and low, to characterize Him by exaltedness and greatness, not by being in places, particular directions, or within limits, for these are the qualities of physical bodies (al-Jami li ahkam al-Qur'an. 20 vols. Cairo 1387/1967. Reprint (20 vols in 10). Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, n.d.,18.216).
In this connection, a hadith has been related by Malik in his Muwatta' and by Muslim in his Sahih, that Muawiya ibn al-Hakam came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and told him, "I am very newly from the Jahiliyya, and now Allah has brought Islam," and he proceeded to ask about various Jahiliyya practices, until at last he said that he had slapped his slave girl, and asked if he should free her, as was obligatory if she was a believer. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) requested that she be brought, and then asked her, "Where is Allah?" and she said, "In the sky (Fi al-sama)"; whereupon he asked her, "Who am I?" and she said, "You are the Messenger of Allah"; at which he said, Free her, "for she is a believer" (Sahih Muslim, 5 vols. Cairo 1376/1956. Reprint. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1403/1983, 1.382: 538). Imam Nawawi says of this hadith:
This is one of the "hadiths of the attributes," about which scholars have two positions. The first is to have faith in it without discussing its meaning, while believing of Allah Most High that "there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him" (Qur'an 42:11), and that He is exalted above having any of the attributes of His creatures. The second is to figuratively explain it in a fitting way, scholars who hold this position adducing that the point of the hadith was to test the slave girl: Was she a monotheist, who affirmed that the Creator, the Disposer, the Doer, is Allah alone and that He is the one called upon when a person making supplication (du'a) faces the sky--just as those performing the prayer (salat) face the Kaaba, since the sky is the qibla of those who supplicate, as the Kaaba is the qibla of those who perform the prayer--or was she a worshipper of the idols which they placed in front of themselves? So when she said, In the sky, it was plain that she was not an idol worshipper (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi. 18 vols. Cairo 1349/1930. Reprint (18 vols. in 9). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1401/1981, 5.24).
It is noteworthy that Imam Nawawi does not mention understanding the hadith literally as a possible scholarly position at all. This occasions surprise today among some Muslims, who imagine that what is at stake is the principle of accepting a single rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith as evidence in Islamic faith (`aqida), for this hadith is such a single hadith, of those termed in Arabic ahad, or "conveyed by a single chain of transmission", as opposed to being mutawatir or "conveyed by so many chains of transmission that it is impossible it could have been forged".
Yet this is not what is at stake, because hadiths of its type are only considered acceptable as evidence by traditional scholars of Islamic `aqida if one condition can be met: that the tenet of faith mentioned in the hadith is salimun min al-muarada or "free of conflicting evidence". This condition is not met by this particular hadith for a number of reasons. First, the story described in the hadith has come to us in a number of other well-authenticated versions that vary a great deal from the "Where is Allah?--In the sky" version. One of these is related by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih with a well-authenticated (hasan) chain of transmission, in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) asked the slave girl, "'Who is your Lord?' and she said, 'Allah'; whereupon he asked her, 'Who am I?' and she said, 'You are the Messenger of Allah'; at which he said, 'Free her, for she is a believer'" (al-Ihsan fi taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban, 18 vols. Beirut: Muassasa al-Risala, 1408/1988, 1.419: 189).

In another version, related by Abd al-Razzaq with a rigorously authenticated (sahih) chain of transmission, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to her, "Do you testify that there is no god but Allah?" and she said yes. He said, "Do you testify that I am the Messenger of Allah?" and she said yes. He said, "Do you believe in resurrection after death?" and she said yes. He said, "Free her" (al-Musannaf, 11 vols. Beirut: al-Majlis al-Ilmi, 1390/1970, 9.175: 16814).

In other versions, the slave girl cannot speak, but merely points to the sky in answer. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani has said of the various versions of this hadith, "There is great contradiction in the wording" (Talkhis al-habir, 4 vols. in 2. Cairo: Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya, 1399/1979, 3.250). When a hadith has numerous conflicting versions, there is a strong possibility that it has been related merely in terms of what one or more narrators understood (riwaya bi al-ma'na), and hence one of the versions is not adequate to establish a point of `aqida.

Second, this latter consideration is especially applicable to the point in question because the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) explicitly detailed the pillars of Islamic faith (iman) in a hadith related in Sahih Muslim when he answered the questions of the angel Gabriel, saying, True faith (iman) is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe destiny (qadr), its good and evil (Sahih Muslim, 1.37: 8)--and he did not mention anything about Allah being "in the sky". If it had been the decisive test of a Muslims belief or unbelief (as in the "in the sky" hadith seems to imply), it would have been obligatory for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to mention it in this hadith, the whole point of which is to say precisely what "iman is".

Third, if one takes the hadith as meaning that Allah is literally "in the sky", it conflicts with other equally sahih hadiths that have presumably equal right to be taken literally--such as the hadith qudsi related by al-Hakim that Allah Most High says, "I am with My servant when he makes remembrance of Me and his lips move with Me" (al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn. 4 vols. Hyderabad, 1334/1916. Reprint (with index vol. 5). Beirut: Dar al-Marifa, n.d., 1.496), a hadith that al- Hakim said was rigorously authenticated (sahih), which al-Dhahabi confirmed. Or such as the hadith related by al-Nasai, Abu Dawud, and Muslim that "the closest a servant is to his Lord is while prostrating" (Sahih Muslim, 1.350: 482)--whereas if Allah were literally "in the sky", the closest one would be to Him would be while standing upright. Or such as the hadith related by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) forbade spitting during prayer ahead of one, because when a person prays, "his Lord is in front of him" (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1.112: 406). Finally, in the hadiths of the Mir'aj or "Nocturnal Ascent", the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was shown all of the seven heavens (samawat) by Gabriel, and Allah was not mentioned as being in any of them.

Fourth, the literal interpretation of Allah being "in the sky" contradicts two fundamentals of Islamic `aqida established by the Qur'an. The first of these is Allah's attribute of mukhalafa li al- hawadith or "not resembling created things in any way", as Allah says in surat al-Shura, "There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him" (Qur'an 42:11), whereas if He were literally "in the sky", there would be innumerable things like unto Him in such respects as having altitude, position, direction, and so forth. The second fundamental that it contradicts, as mentioned above, is Allah's attribute of ghina or "being absolutely free of need for anything created" that He affirms in numerous verses in the Qur'an. It is impossible that Allah could be a corporeal entity because bodies need space and time, while Allah has absolutely no need for anything.

Fifth, the literalist interpretation of "in the sky" entails that the sky encompasses Allah on all sides, such that He would be smaller than it, and it would thus be greater than Allah, which is patently false.

For these reasons and others, Islamic scholars have viewed it obligatory to figuratively interpret the above hadith and other texts containing similar figures of speech, in ways consonant with how the Arabic language is used. Consider the Qur'anic verse "Do you feel safe that He who is in the sky will not make the earth swallow you while it quakes" (Qur'an 67:16), for which the following examples of traditional tafsir or "Qur'anic commentary" can be offered:

(al-Qurtubi:) The more exacting scholars hold that it ["in the sky"] means, "Do you feel secure from Him who is over the sky"--just as Allah says, "Journey in the earth" (Qur'an 9:2), meaning journey over it--not over the sky by way of physical contact or spatialization, but by way of omnipotent power and control. Another position is that it means "Do you feel secure from Him who is over ('ala) the sky," just as it is said, "So-and-so is over Iraq and the Hijaz", meaning that he is the governor and commander of them (al-Jami li ahkam al-Qur'an, 18.216).
(al-Shirbini al-Khatib:) There are various interpretive aspects to "He who is in the sky," one of which is that it means "He whose dominion is in the sky," because it is the dwelling place of the angels, and there are His Throne, His Kursi, the Guarded Tablet; and from it are made to descend His decrees, His Books, His commands, and His prohibitions. A second interpretive possibility is that "He who is in the sky" omits the first term of an ascriptive construction (idafa)--in other words, "Do you feel safe from the Creator of him who is in the sky"; meaning the angels who dwell in the sky, for they are the ones who are commanded to dispense the divine mercy or divine vengeance (al-Siraj al-Munir. 4 vols. Bulaq 1285/1886. Reprint. Beirut: Dar al-Marifa, n.d., 4.344).

(Fakhr al-Din al-Razi:) "He who is in the sky" may mean the angel who is authorized to inflict divine punishments; that is, Gabriel (upon whom be peace); the words "cause the earth to swallow you" meaning "by Allah's command and leave" (Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi. 32 vols. Beirut 1401/1981. Reprint (32 vols. in 16). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1405/1985, 30.70).

(Abu Hayyan al-Nahwi:) Or the context of these words may be according to the convictions of those being addressed [the unbelievers], for they were anthropomorphists. So that the meaning would be, "Do you feel safe from Him whom you claim is in the sky?--while He is exalted above all place" (Tafsir al-nahr al-madd min al-Bahr al-muhit. 2 vols. in 3. Beirut: Dar al-Janan and Muassasa al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyya, 1407/1987, 2.1132).

(Qadi Iyad:) There is no disagreement among Muslims, one and all--their legal scholars, their hadith scholars, their scholars of theology, both those of them capable of expert scholarly reasoning and those who merely follow the scholarship of others--that the textual evidences that mention Allah Most High being "in the sky", such as His words, "Do you feel safe that He who is in the sky will not make the earth swallow you," and so forth, are not as their literal sense (dhahir) seems to imply, but rather, all scholars interpret them in other than their ostensive sense (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, 5.24).

We now turn to a final example, the hadith related by Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
Your Lord Blessed and Exalted descends each night to the sky of this world, when the last third of the night remains, and says: "Who supplicates Me, that I may answer him? Who asks Me, that I may give to him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?" (Sahih Muslim, 1.521: 758).
This hadith, if we reflect for a moment, is not about `aqida, but rather has a quite practical point to establish; namely, that we are supposed to do something in the last third of the night, to rise and pray. This is why Imam al-Nawawi, when he gave the present chapter names to the headings of Sahih Muslim, put this hadith under "Instilling Desire to Supplicate and Make Remembrance of Allah (dhikr) in the Last of the Night, and the Answering Therein". As for the meaning of "descends" in the hadith, al-Nawawi says:
This is one of the "hadiths of the Attributes", and there are two positions about it, as previously mentioned in the "Book of Iman". To summarize, the first position, which is the school of the majority of early Muslims and some theologians, is that one should believe that the hadith is true in a way befitting Allah Most High, while the literal meaning of it as known to us and applicable to ourselves is not what is intended, without discussing the figurative meaning, though we believe that Allah is transcendently above all attributes of createdness, of change of position, of motion, and all other attributes of created things.
The second position, the school of most theologians, of whole groups of the early Muslims (salaf), and reported from Malik and al-Awzai, is that such hadiths should be figuratively interpreted in a way appropriate to them in their contexts. According to this school of thought, they interpret the hadith in two ways. The first is the interpretation of Malik ibn Anas and others, that it ["your Lord descends"] means "His mercy, command, and angels descend," just as it is said, "The sultan did such-and-such," when his followers did it at his command. The second is that it is a metaphor signifying [Allah's] concern for those making supplication, by answering them and kindness toward them (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, 6.3637).

The hadith scholar Ali al-Qari says about the above hadith of Allah's "descending":
You know that Malik and al-Awazai, who are among the greatest of the early Muslims, both gave detailed figurative interpretations to the hadith. . . . Another of them was Jafar al-Sadiq. Indeed a whole group of them [the early Muslims], as well as later scholars, said that whoever believes Allah to be in a particular physical direction is an unbeliever, as al-Iraqi has explicitly stated, saying that this was the position of Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i, al-Ashari, and al- Baqillani (Mirqat al-mafatih: sharh Mishkat al-masabih. 5 vols. Cairo 1309/1892. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, n.d., 2.137).
It is worth remembering that al-Iraqi was a hafiz or "hadith master", someone with over 100,000 hadiths by memory, while Ali al-Qari was a hadith authority who produced reference works still in use today on forged hadiths. In other words, each had the highest credentials for verifying the chains of transmission of the positions they relate. For this reason, their transmission of the position of the unbelief of whoever ascribes a direction to Allah carries its weight.
But perhaps it is fitter today to say that Muslims who believe that Allah is somehow "up there" are not unbelievers. For they have the shubha or "extenuating circumstance" that moneyed quarters in our times are aggressively pushing the bid'a of anthropomorphism. This bid'a was confined in previous centuries to a small handful of Hanbalis, who were rebutted time and again by ulama of Ahl al-Sunna like Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1201), who addressed his fellow Hanbalis in his Daf shubah al-tashbih bi akaff al-tanzih [Rebuttal of the insinuations of anthropomorphism at the hands of divine transcendence] with the words:

If you had said, "We but read the hadiths and remain silent," no one would have condemned you. What is shameful is that you interpret them literally. Do not surrreptiously introduce into the madhhab of this righteous, early Muslim man [Ahmad ibn Hanbal] that which is not of it. You have clothed this madhhab in shameful disgrace, until it can hardly be said "Hanbali" any more without saying anthropomorphist (Daf shubah al-tashbih bi akaff al-tanzih. Cairo n.d. Reprint. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Tawfiqiyya, 1396/1976, 2829).
These beliefs apparently survived for some centuries in Khorasan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the East, for Imam al-Kawthari notes that the Hanbali Ibn Taymiya (d. 728/1328) picked up the details of them from manuscripts on sects (nihal) when the libraries of scholars poured into Damascus with caravans fleeing from the Mongols farther east. He read them without a perspicacious teacher to guide him, came to believe what he understood from them, and went on to become an advocate for them in his own works (al-Kawthari, al-Sayf al-saqil fi al-radd ala Ibn Zafil. Cairo 1356/ 1937. Reprint. Cairo: Maktaba al-Zahran, n.d. 56).
He was imprisoned for these ideas numerous times before his death, the ulama of Damascus accusing him of anthropomorphism (al-Asqalani, al-Durar al-kamina fi ayan al-mia al-thamina. 4 vols. Hyderabad 134950/193031. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, n.d., 1.155).

Writings were authored by scholars like Abu Hayyan al-Nahwi (d. 745/ 1344), Taqi al-Din Subki (756/1355), Badr al-Din ibn Jamaa (d. 733/ 1333), al-Amir al-Sanani, author of Subul al-salam (d. 1182/1768), Taqi al-Din al-Hisni, author of Kifayat al-akhyar, (d. 829/1426), and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974/1567) in rebuttal of his `aqida, and it remained without acceptance by Muslims for another four hundred years, until the eighteenth-century Wahhabi movement, which followed Ibn Taymiya on points of `aqida, and made him its "Sheikh of Islam." But was not until with the advent of printing in the Arab world that Ibn Taymiya's books (and the tenets of this sect) really saw the light of day, when a wealthy merchant from Jedda commissioned the printing of his Minhaj al-sunna and other works on `aqida in Egypt at the end of the last century, resurrected this time as Salafism or "return to early Islam." They have since been carried to all parts of the Islamic world, borne upon a flood of copious funding from one or two modern Muslim countries, whose efforts have filled mosques with books, pamphlets, and young men who push these ideas and even ascribe them (with Ibn Taymiya's questionable chains of transmission, or none at all) to the Imams of the earliest Muslims. My point, as regards considering Muslims believers or unbelievers, is that this kind of money can buy the influence and propaganda that turn night into day; so perhaps contemporary Muslims have some excuse for these ideas--until they have had a chance to learn that the God of Islam is transcendently above being a large man, just as He is transcendently above being subject to time or to space, which are but two of His creatures.

To summarize what I have said in answer to your question above, scholars take the primary texts of the Qur'an and sunna literally unless there is some cogent reason for them not to. In the case of Allah "descending" or being "in the sky", there are many such reasons. First, a literal interpretation of these texts makes it impossible to join between them and the many other rigorously authenticated texts about Allah being "with" a servant when he does dhikr, "closer to him than the jugular vein" (Qur'an 50:16), "in front of him" when he prays, "closest" to him when he is prostrating, "in the sky" when a slave girl was asked; "with you wherever you are" (Qur'an 58:4), and so on. These are incoherent when taken together literally, and only become free of contradictions when they are understood figuratively, as Malik, al-Awzai, and al-Nawawi have done above. Second, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) detailed the beliefs that every Muslim must have in the Gabriel Hadith in Sahih Muslim and others, and did not mention Allah being "in the sky" (or anywhere else) in any of them. Third, Allah's being "in the sky" as birds, clouds, and so on are in the sky in a literal sense contradicts the `aqida of the Qur'an that there is "nothing whatsoever like unto Him" (Qur'an 42:11). Fourth, the notion of Allah's being in particular places contradicts the `aqida expressed in seventeen verses of the Qur'an that Allah is free of need of anything, while things that occupy places need both space and time.

These reasons are not exhaustive, but are intended to answer your question by illustrating the `aqida and principles of traditional ulama in interpreting the kind of texts we are talking about. They show just how far from traditional Islam is the belief that Allah is "in the sky" in a literal sense, and why it is not permissible for any Muslim to believe this. And Allah alone gives success.

The Fitnah of Wahabism

Fitnatu-l-Wahhabiyyah

An Essay about the Wahhabi Crimes against Islam and against Muslims

by Mawlana Shaykhu-l-Islam Ahmad Zayni Dahlan al-Makki ash-Shafi'i,
Chief Mufti of Mecca al-Mukarramah, may Allah be pleased with him.



Introduction


During the reign of Sultan Salim III (1204-1222 AH) many tribulations took place. One was the tribulation of the Wahhabiyyah which started in the area of al-Hijaz (1) where they captured al-Haramayn (2), and prevented Muslims coming from ash-Sham (3) and Egypt from reaching their destination to perform Pilgrimage (Hajj). Another tribulation is that of the French who controlled Egypt from 1213 A.H. until 1216 A.H. Let us here speak briefly about the two adversities (4), because each was mentioned in detail in the books of history and in separate treatises.


Background On The Tribulations Of The Wahhabis


The fighting started between the Wahhabis and the Prince of Mecca, Mawlana Sharif Ghalib Ibn Bu Sa'id, who had been appointed by the honored Muslim Sultan as his ruling representative over the areas of al-Hijaz. This was in 1205 AH during the time of Sultan Salim III, the son of Sultan Mustafa III, the son of Ahmad. Previous to the outbreak of fighting, the Wahhabis began to build power and gain followers in their areas. As their territories expanded, their evil and harm increased They killed countless numbers of Muslims, legitimated confiscating their money and possessions, and captured their women. The founder of their wicked doctrine was Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, who originated from eastern Arabia, from the tribe of Banu Tamim. He lived a long life, about one-hundred years. He was born in 1111 AH and died in 1200 AH. His history was narrated as follows:

Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab started as a student of knowledge in the city of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam: Medina al-Munawwarah. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's father was a good, pious man among the people of knowledge as was his brother, Shaykh Sulayman. His father, his brother, and his shaykhs (teachers of religion) had the foresight Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab would innovate a great deal of deviation and misguidance, because of their observance of his sayings, actions, and inclinations concerning many issues. They used to reprimand him and warn people against him.



Some Of The Beliefs Of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab


What Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's father, brother, and shaykhs speculated about him came true--by the Will of Allah, ta'ala. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab innovated deviant and misleading ways and beliefs and managed to allure some ignorant people to follow him. His deviant and misleading ways and beliefs disagreed with the sayings of the scholars of the Religion. His deviant beliefs led him to label the believers as blasphemers! He falsely claimed visiting the grave of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and performing the tawassul (5) by him as shirk (6). Additionally, he falsely claimed visiting the graves of other prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya') and performing tawassul by them was shirk as well. He added to this by saying, "To call upon the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, when performing tawassul by the Prophet is shirk." He passed the same judgment of shirk on the ones who call upon other prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya') in performing tawassul by them.

In an effort to give credibility to his innovations Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab embellished his sayings by quotations which he selected from Islamic sources, i.e., quotations which are used as proofs for many issues but not the issues which Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab was attempting to support. He brought false statements and tried to beautify them for the laymen until they followed him. He wrote treatises for them until they believed that most of the People of Tawhid (7) were blasphemers.


Alliance With The Su'udiyy Family


Moreover, Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab called upon the princes of eastern Arabia and the people of ad-Dar'iyyah (8) to support him. They carried his doctrine and made this endeavor a means to strengthen and expand their kingdom. They worked together to suppress the Bedouins of the deserts until they overcame them and those Bedouins followed them and became foot-soldiers for them without pay. After that, these masses started to believe that whoever does not believe in what Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab said is a blasphemer, and it is Islamically lawful (halal) to shed his blood and plunder his money.

The matter of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab started to evidence itself in 1143 A.H. and began spreading after 1150 A.H. Subsequently, the scholars--even his brother, Shaykh Sulayman and the rest of his shaykhs-- authored many treatises to refute him. But Muhammad Ibn Su'ud, the Prince of ad-Dar'iyyah in eastern Arabia, supported him and worked to spread his ideology. Ibn Su'ud was from Banu Hanifah, the people of Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab (9). When Muhammad Ibn Su'ud died, his son 'Abdul-'Aziz Ibn Muhammad Ibn Su'ud took over the responsibility of fulfilling the vile task of spreading the Wahhabi beliefs.

Many of the shaykhs of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab in Medina used to say, "He will be misguided, and he will misguide those for whom Allah willed the misguidance." Things took place as per the speculation of the scholars. Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab claimed his intention behind the madhhab he invented was "to purify the tawhid" and "repudiate the shirk." He also claimed people had been following the shirk for six-hundred years and he revived their Religion for them!!


The Methodology Of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab


Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab took the verses revealed to speak about the blasphemers and applied them to the Muslims. The following examples from the Qur'an illustrate this point. Allah, ta'ala, said in Surat al-Ahqaf, Ayah 5:



This verse means: [Who is more astray than the one who performs supplication (du'a') to [worship] other than Allah; the one other than Allah he supplicates to will not answer his du'a'.]

Allah, ta'ala said in Surat Yunus, Ayah 106 :



This verse means: [Do not perform supplication (du'a') to [worship] other than Allah; the one other than Allah you supplicate to will not benefit you and will not harm you.]

The verses in the Qur'an similar to these ones are numerous. Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab gravely misinterpreted the previously cited verses and said: "The Muslim who asks help from the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, other prophets, or the righteous people (salihun), or who calls or asks any of them for intercession is like those blasphemers mentioned in the Qur'an." According to the false claim of Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, the Muslims who do these things are blasphemers.

He also considered visiting the grave of Prophet Muhammad and the graves of other prophets and righteous Muslims for blessings as blasphemy. Allah revealed Ayah 3 of Surat az-Zumar in reference to the mushrikun:



This verse means: [Those who worship the idols said: "We do not worship them except to achieve a higher status from Allah."]

Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab falsely stated: "Those who perform tawassul (asking Allah by the prophets, for example) are similar to those blasphemers mentioned in Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 3, who claim they do not worship the idols except to achieve a higher status from Allah." He said: "The blasphemers did not believe the idols create anything; they believed Allah is the Creator." He gave his version of proof from the Qur'an by citing Surat Luqman, Ayah 25 and Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 38, in which Allah said:



These verses mean: [If you ask them, `Who created the heavens and earth?' They will say, `Allah'.]

In Surat az-Zukhruf, Ayah 87, Allah said:



Which means: [If you ask them, `Who created them?' They will say, `Allah'.] Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab falsely concluded from these verses that the Muslims who perform tawassul are similar to those blasphemers.


The Scholars Refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab


In their writings to refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's sayings, the scholars said his deduction was false. The believers did not consider the prophets or the awliya' as gods and they did not deem them partners to Allah. Instead, they correctly believe the prophets and awliya' are good slaves and creations of Allah, and they do not deserve to be worshipped.

The blasphemers intended in these verses believed their idols deserved Godhood. They exalted them as one would exalt his Creator, even though they believed the idols did not create the heavens and the earth. The believers, on the other hand, do not believe the prophets or righteous Muslims (awliya') deserve to be worshipped, nor do they deserve to be attributed with Godhood, nor do they exalt them as one would exalt God. They believe these people are good slaves of Allah, His beloved ones whom He chose, and by their blessings (barakah) Allah grants His mercy to His creation. Hence, when the slaves of Allah seek the blessings (barakah) of the prophets and righteous Muslims (awliya') they are seeking these blessings as a mercy from Allah.

There are many proofs and examples from the Qur'an and Sunnah about this basic belief of the Muslims. Muslims believe Allah is the Creator, the One Who grants benefit and inflicts harm, and the only One Who deserves to be worshipped. Muslims believe that no one other than Allah has the power to affect the creation. The prophets and righteous people do not create anything. They do not possess the power to bestow benefit or inflict harm on others, but Allah is the One Who bestows the mercy upon the slaves by the righteous Muslims' blessings.

Hence, the belief of the blasphemers, i.e., the belief their idols deserve to be worshipped and have Godhood, is what makes them fall into blasphemy. This saying of the blasphemers, as previously cited in Surat az-Zumar, Ayah 3, was said in an effort to justify their belief when they were disproved and shown idols do not deserve to be worshipped.

How can Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab and those who follow him find it permissible to equate the believers, who believed in tawhid, to those blasphemers, who believed in the Godhood of the idols? All the previously cited verses and the verses which are similar to them are specific to the blasphemers who associate partners with Allah--none of the believers are included.
Al-Bukhariyy narrated by the route of Ibn 'Umar, may Allah raise their ranks, that the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, described the Khawarij as those who took the verses revealed about the blasphemers and attributed them to the believers! In the narration by the route of Ibn 'Umar the Prophet said:





which means: "What I fear most for my nation is a man who mis-explains the Qur'an and takes it out of context." This hadith and the previous one apply very well to the Wahhabis.


Proofs For Tawassul
The Permissibility of Asking Allah for Things by Some of His Creation


If performing tawassul had been blasphemy, then the believers, i.e., the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, his Companions, and the Salaf and Khalaf of this nation would not have done it. Yet it is mentioned in the sahih hadith of the Prophet that the Prophet used to ask Allah by saying:



which means: "O Allah, I ask You by the status of those who ask You. (10) " Without doubt, this is tawassul. The Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, used to teach this supplication (du'a') to his Companions and order them to say it. This issue was expounded upon in different books and treatises refuting Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab.

There is a hadith related by al-Hakim that mentions after Adam ate from the tree, he performed tawassul by our Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. He did that, because he saw the name of the Prophet written on the 'Arsh, Adam said: "O Allah, by the dignity of this son [Muhammad], forgive this father [Adam]."

It was also related by Ibn Hibban, that upon the death of Fatimah Bint Asad, may Allah raise her rank, the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, with his own honorable hands, put her in her grave and said: "O Allah, forgive my mother (11), Fatimah Bint Asad, and widen her place by the status of Your Prophet and the prophets who came before me. You are the most Merciful."

There is a hadith classified as sahih (12), that a blind man asked the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, to make a supplication (du'a') to Allah to return his sight. The Prophet ordered him to make ablution (wudu') and pray two rak'ahs and then say:

"O Allah, I ask You and direct myself to You by Your Prophet, Muhammad, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad, I ask Allah by you to fulfill my need. O Allah, enable him to intercede for me."

The blind man did what the Prophet taught him to do (13) and Allah brought his sight back. Moreover, as related by at-Tabaraniyy, the tawassul made by the blind man was used by the Companions and Salaf after the death of the Prophet.

'Umar Ibn al-Khattab performed the tawassul by al-'Abbas (the uncle of the Prophet), may Allah reward their deeds, when he prayed the Salah of 'Istisqa' (14) with the people. There are other proofs mentioned in the books of the Islamic scholars but we will not recount them at length here.

The one who pursues the saying of the Companions and their followers will find a great deal of proof about the validity of calling the prophet by saying "O Muhammad" in his presence as well as in his absence and in his life as well as after his death. In fact, many texts include the phrase which means, "O Muhammad". Calling the name of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, is permissible. An example is the saying of the Companion, Bilal Ibn al-Harith, may Allah reward his deeds, when he went to the grave of the Prophet. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to send rain to your Nation." His saying contains this format (15).

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulayman al-Kurdiyy (16) was among the authors who wrote refuting Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab. He was Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab's own shaykh. Among what he said is as follows:

O Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab, I advise you, for the sake of Allah, ta'ala, to hold your tongue regarding the Muslims. If you hear from anyone who asks for help from other than Allah that one has the power to effect things without the Will of Allah, then teach him the right thing about this issue, and show him the proofs which state no one other than Allah brings things from non-existence into existence. The one who rejects that is blasphemous. You have no right to label the majority of the Muslims as blasphemers (17) while you are deviant from the majority of the Muslims. In fact, it is more reasonable to consider the one who deviates from the majority of the Muslims as a blasphemer then to consider the Muslims as a nation as blasphemers--because the deviant one has followed a path other than the path of the believers. In Surat an-Nisa', Ayah 15, Allah said:



This ayah means: [Whomever contends with the Messenger after the right path was exposed to him and follows other than the way of the believers, Allah will leave him to whatever he followed and put him in Hell (Jahannam)].



The Permissibility Of Visiting The Grave Of The Prophet

Visiting the grave of the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, was performed by the Companions and the Salaf and Khalaf who came after them. Many hadiths cite the benefit of this deed and the scholars of Islam have written books about this matter (18).


Calling On Someone Other Than Allah

Among of what was mentioned concerning calling on someone other than Allah, whether that one is present, absent, dead or alive, is the saying of the Prophet:



which means: "If the animal of anyone of you went out of control in the wilderness, then call: `O slaves of Allah, help me'", since there are slaves of Allah [i.e. the angels] who will respond to him.

There is another hadith related by al-Bazzar in which the Prophet said:





which means: " If one of you lost something or needs help while in an open land, then let him say: "O slaves of Allah, help me."" Another narration says:



which means "Rescue me, because Allah has created slaves whom you do not see."

When traveling at nightfall the Prophet, sallallahu 'alyhi wa sallam, used to say:



which means: " O earth, my Lord and your Lord is Allah."

When the Prophet visited the grave of Muslims, he used to say:



which means: " O people of the graves, peace be upon you."

In the Tashahhud in as-Salah the Muslim says:



which means: " "O Prophet of Allah, may Allah protect you from infirmities, and have mercy and blessings on you.""

There is no harm in calling on and performing tawassul by someone unless one believes that someone other than Allah actually creates things. Hence, as long as one believes that only Allah creates them, there is no harm in performing tawassul. Likewise, attributing a certain doing to other than Allah does not harm unless one believes this doer actually creates. So once it is established the person does not believe the creating is for other than Allah then attributing a doing to other than Allah is understood in its proper context. When one says: "This medicine benefited me," or "This particular righteous Muslim benefited me," he is merely exposing the created reason of the benefit. These statements are also similar to when one says: "This food satisfied my hunger," or "This water quenched my thirst," or "This medicine cured me." When Muslims say such statements, they understand them in their proper context, i.e., food, water, and medicine are only reasons, and Allah is the Creator of their benefit.

The general proofs mentioned in this summary are enough to refute Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab. The scholars of Islam have expounded on this issue in several treatises.



The History Of The Fighting With The Wahhabiyyah

At the time Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab and his assistants initiated their treacherous ideology by which they called the Muslims blasphemers, they were gaining control of eastern Arabia one tribe after another. This expansion eventually encompassed al-Yaman, Makkah, al-Madinah, and the tribes of al-Hijaz all the way to ash-Sham.



Debating With The Scholars Of Makkah


Initially, the Wahhabis sent a group to Makkah and al-Madinah thinking they would be able to spoil the belief of the scholars of these two holy cities and tamper with their belief through lies and fabrications. When they reached there and declared their beliefs, the scholars of Makkah and al-Madinah refuted them and established the Islamic evidences against them--which they could not refute. The scholars were certain about the Wahhabis’ ignorance and misguidance and found them absurd and thoughtless.

After evaluating their beliefs and finding them full of many types of blasphemy, the Wahhabis fled like frightened zebras fleeing from a lion. Hence, after establishing the proofs, the scholars wrote an attestation against the Wahhabiyyah to the Head Judge of Makkah confirming the Wahhabis as blasphemous because of their beliefs. The aim of the scholars was to disclose the misguidance of the Wahhabis and make it known to the Muslims near and far. This action took place during the rulership of Sharif Mas'ud Ibn Sa'id Ibn Sa'd Ibn Zayn, the ruler of Hijaz who ordered the imprisonment of those unjust Wahhabis. Sharif Mas'ud Ibn Sa'id Ibn Sa'd Ibn Zayn died in 1165 A.H.

Some Wahhabis managed to escape their imprisonment. They went to ad-Dar'iyyah and spoke about what they encountered in Makkah. This made the Wahhabis more devilishly haughty, and they started attacking the tribes which were loyal to the prince of Makkah.



Outbreak Of Hostilities:
Fighting In At-Ta’if, Makkah, And Juddah


The fighting between the Wahhabis and the prince of Makkah, Mawlana Sharif Ghalib Ibn Mus'id Ibn Sa'id Ibn Sa'd Ibn Zayd, broke out after 1205 A.H. Many battles took place between the prince and the Wahhabis. Although many people were killed, the Wahhabis’ strength kept intensifying. Their innovations kept propagating until most of the Bedouin tribes paid allegiance to them--even the Bedouins who were under the rulership of the prince of Makkah.

In 1217 A.H., they marched with big armies to the area of at-Ta’if. In Dhul-Qa'dah (19) of the same year, they lay siege to the area the Muslims were, subdued them, and killed the people: men, women, and children. They also looted the Muslims’ belongings and possessions. Only a few people escaped their barbarism.

After at-Ta’if came under their control, the Wahhabis planned to march towards Makkah, but this was during the time the Muslims were performing Pilgrimage, and many of the Muslims from ash-Sham and Egypt were in Makkah. The Wahhabis knew if they attacked Makkah at that time all the people performing Pilgrimage would join in fighting them. They stayed in at-Ta’if until Hajj was over, and the people had returned to their countries. Then the Wahhabis and their armies set out to attack Makkah. Sharif Ghalib did not have enough power to face these armies, so he went to Juddah. The people of Makkah were afraid the Wahhabis would treat them in the same manner the people of at-Ta’if were treated, so they negotiated and surrendered to them. The Wahhabis granted the people of Makkah security and entered Makkah on the eighth of Muharram, 1218 A.H. They occupied themselves there for fourteen days ordering the Muslims to repent and embrace Islam--since the Wahhabis falsely claimed them as blasphemers. The people were prohibited from doing what the Wahhabis incorrectly believed to be blasphemy, like performing tawassul and visiting the graves.

Having gained control of at-Ta’if and Makkah, the Wahhabis turned their armies towards Juddah to fight Sharif Ghalib. When they surrounded Juddah, Sharif Ghalib bombarded them with cannons and projectiles. He killed many Wahhabis and prevented the conquering of Juddah. After eight days, the Wahhabis departed Juddah to return to their own territories. The Wahhabis left some of their army in Makkah and appointed 'Abdul-Mu'in, the brother of Sharif Ghalib, as prince. 'Abdul-Mu'in only accepted this position to protect the people of Makkah and shelter them from the evil mistreatment of the harmful Wahhabis.

In the month of Rabi'-ul-’Awwal of the same year, Prince Ghalib left Juddah accompanied by Sharif Basha--the governor of Juddah and the representative of the Supreme 'Uthmaniyy (20) Sultan. They arrived in Makkah with their army and overpowered the Wahhabis. They expelled the Wahhabi army and this brought Makkah back under the authority of Sharif Ghalib.


The Capture Of Makkah

The Wahhabis left Makkah and became involved with fighting many of the tribes. They captured at-Ta’if and appointed 'Uthman al-Madayiqiyy as the governor. This governor joined forces with some of the Wahhabis’ soldiers and started fighting the tribes next to the borders of Makkah and al-Madinah until they pledged allegiance to them. They eventually subdued all the tribes and captured all the lands originally under the authority of the Governor of Makkah. After this, 'Uthman al-Madayiqiyy mobilized his army in an attempt to capture Makkah. In 1220 A.H. they lay siege to Makkah and then surrounded it from all directions to tighten this siege. They blocked the routes to the city and prevented supplies from reaching there. It was a great hardship on the people of Makkah. Food became exorbitantly expensive and then unavailable. They resorted to eating dogs.

Sharif Ghalib was compelled to ask for reconciliation with the Wahhabis. He accepted for some people to arbitrate between them. He signed an agreement with conditions stipulating the rulership of Makkah would be kept for him, and the people of Makkah would be treated leniently. The Wahhabis accepted these conditions. They entered Makkah by the end of Dhul-Qa'dah in 1220 A.H. They also gained control of al-Madinah. They plundered what was in the room of the Nabi, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, took all the money that was there, and did some disgraceful acts. They appointed a man among them, Mubarak Ibn Madyan, as the governor of al-Madinah.

The Wahhabis ruled Makkah and al-Madinah for seven years. During these years, they prevented the people of ash-Sham and Egypt from entering Makkah carrying the cloak (21) of the Ka'bah when they came to perform pilgrimage. The Wahhabis started to make the cloak for the Ka'bah from black material. They prevented the people from smoking tobacco. When they found someone smoking they punished him fiercely. During this time, the Wahhabis destroyed the domes built on the graves of the righteous Muslims.



The 'Uthmaniyy State Starts To React


Throughout these years, the 'Uthmaniyy State was in great confusion and chaos. The 'Uthmaniyys were engaged in fierce fighting with the Christians and they were trying to cope with disunity among the ruling power. One sultan would be appointed, then thrown out or possibly killed, until 1226 AH when the Sultan issued an order to the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha, to prepare to fight the Wahhabis.



The Army From Egypt


Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha organized a big army and by a mandate from the Sultan, appointed his son, Tusun Basha, as its commanding officer. Those troops left Egypt in Ramadan of the same year and journeyed by land and by sea until they reached Yanbu' and regained it form the Wahhabis. In Dhul-Hijjah 1226 AH, the army reached an area between as-Safra’ and al-Hadidah. A fierce fight broke out with the Bedouins who were in al-Harbiyyah. These tribes were loyal to the Wahhabis, and many other tribes also joined them. As a result, the Egyptian army was badly defeated, many of the soldiers were massacred, and all the belongings of the army were looted. A small number of this army made their way back to Egypt.



The Second Egyptian Campaign


In 1227 A.H., Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha was determined to lead the army to al-Hijaz himself, so he mobilized more troops. In the month of Sha'ban some ranks of the army were sent before him--at the peak of their strength and preparedness. Among their artillery were eighteen canons. In Ramadan, the army captured what the Wahhabis formerly controlled and regained the area of as-Safra’, al-Hadidah, and other places without a fight, i.e., by attracting the shaykhs of the Bedouin tribes to their side. Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha gave money to the leaders of these tribes and salaries were arranged for them. These arrangements were made under the management of Sharif Ghalib, the Sharif of Makkah, who fooled the Wahhabis into believing he was on their side. The first time the Egyptians were defeated, they had not consulted with Sharif Ghalib--so he was unaware of their need for a similar arrangement.

Around the end of Dhul-Qa'dah, the army entered al-Madinah. When the news about the victory of the Muslim army reached Egypt, the Muslims celebrated the event for three days. They decorated the city, displayed fireworks, and fired their guns in celebration. They conveyed this good news to all the Christian kings.

The army traveling by sea captured Juddah at the beginning of Muharram, 1228 A.H., and then headed towards Makkah to regain control. The army did not engage in any battles with the Wahhabis as a result of the secret arrangements the Sharif managed to achieve. When the army reached Juddah, the Wahhabiyy army and princes fled Makkah. Al-Madayiqiyy, the Wahhabi princes of at-Ta’if, and their army fled at-Ta’if when they got word the Muslim army regained control of Juddah and Makkah.

The prince of the Wahhabis, Prince Su'ud, went to Hajj in 1227 A.H., before these events took place. After Hajj he went to at-Ta’if and then back to ad-Dar'iyyah. It was some time before he learned about the defeat in al-Madinah the Wahhabis suffered at the hands of the Sultan’s army. When he arrived in ad-Dar'iyyah he got word of the capture of Makkah and at-Ta’if.



The Good News Reaches The Sultan


In Rabi'-ul-’Awwal, 1228 A.H., Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha sent delegates to the capital of the state (Istanbul) carrying good new and keys. A written correspondence explained the keys were from Makkah, al-Madinah, Juddah and at-Ta’if. They entered the palace of the Sultan in a dignified and royal parade, followed by drummers announcing the great victory as songs were chanted joyfully. Fireworks were lit and cannons were fired; the delegates who brought the keys were honored. The Sultan promoted the rank of Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha, decorated him with many medallions, and granted him other medallions with an authorization to decorate the officers of his choice.

In Shawwal, 1228 A.H., before Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha left Egypt for al-Hijaz, Sharif Ghalib caught 'Uthman al-Madayiqiyy, the Wahhabi governor of at-Ta’if, who was one of their greatest agents and rulers. He was placed in iron chains and sent to Egypt. He arrived in Egypt in Dhul-Qa'dah--after Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha left for al-Hijaz. From Egypt, 'Uthman al-Madayiqiyy was sent to the capital of the state--where later he was killed.



Punishing Some Wahhabis And Replacing Sharif Ghalib


Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha reached Makkah in Dhul-Qa'dah, arrested Sharif Ghalib Ibn Mus'id and sent him to the capital of the state. Sharif Yahya Ibn Surur Ibn Musa'id, Sharif Ghalib’s nephew, was appointed as the Sharif (Governor) of Makkah.

In Muharram, 1229 A.H., Mubarak Ibn Madyan, the Wahhabi governor of al-Madinah was sent to the capital. He was carried around Constantinople in a disgraceful manner for the people to see. He was killed after this, and his head was hung on the gate of the government building. The same thing was done to 'Uthman al-Madayiqiyy as a punishment for all the crimes they committed during their rulership.

Sharif Ghalib was sent to Salonika (22), held in high regard, and treated well until he died in 1231 A.H. He was buried there, and a dome was constructed over his grave--and to this day, the people still visit his grave. Sharif Ghalib’s rulership over Makkah lasted for twenty-six years.




Uprooting The Wahhabis


Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha continued to fight the Wahhabis, and he sent a large number of troops to Saudi Arabia in the areas of Turabah, Bishah, Ghamid, Dhahran, and 'Asir. His aim was to eradicate the Wahhabis, so he personally led the army in pursuit of them. In Sha'ban, 1229 A.H., he located them, killed and captured many, and demolished their strongholds. Prince Su'ud, the head of the Wahhabis, died in Jumadal-Ula, and his son, 'Abdullah, took over the leadership.

Shortly before the time of Pilgrimage, Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha left these areas and departed for Makkah. He performed Hajj and stayed in Makkah until Rajab, 1230 A.H. Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha left Hasan Basha (23) in Makkah and returned to Egypt in the middle of Rajab, 1230 A.H. He had spent one year and seven months residing in al-Hijaz, because he would not go back to Egypt until he had arranged the affairs of al-Hijaz and destroyed the Wahhabi factions spread throughout the Bedouin tribes of al-Hijaz and Eastern Arabia.



The Third Egyptian Campaign


The Wahhabi prince, 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud, was still in ad-Dar'iyyah when Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha made preparations for an army to fight him. The troops were sent under the leadership of his son, Ibrahim Basha. Prior to this, 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud corresponded with Tusun Basha Ibn Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha; Tusun Basha was in al-Madinah, to make a peace accord with 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud. In this proposed accord, he agreed to pay his loyalty to Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha on the condition he was left as the governor of that area. Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha did not approve this arrangement. The army was mobilized under Ibrahim’s command at the end of 1231 A.H. Ibrahim Basha and his army reached ad-Dar'iyyah in 1232 A.H. where they battled 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud. In Dhul-Qa'dah, 1233 A.H., they conquered the Wahhabis.

When Egypt received news of the victory, the people were extremely triumphant and rejoiced for seven days. They set off fireworks and fired 1,000 canons in celebration of this great event.



Some Of The War Expenses


Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha had a tremendous concern for fighting the Wahhabis by sea. He spent great amounts of money to attain his goal. Some of those who used to serve him said on one occasion 45,000 riyals (24) were paid to transport ammunition (25). This costly payment was one of many times such things occurred. Another time, one transport in particular was made for ammunition carried from Yanbu' to al-Madinah. Each camel cost six riyals, half of which was paid by the governor of Yanbu' and the other half by the governor of al-Madinah. Upon the arrival of the shipment from al-Madinah to ad-Dar'iyyah, the fee for the transport of ammunition alone was 140,000 riyals.



The Capture Of The Wahhabis’ Leader


Ibrahim Basha caught 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud and sent him and many of the Wahhabi princes to Egypt. They arrived on the seventeenth of Muharram, 1234 A.H., where people gathered to see the Wahhabi leader paraded around the capital riding on a camel. After this, 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud was brought to see Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha. Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha stood up for 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud, was gentle with him, and smiled as he let Abdullah sit beside him. Muhammad 'Aliyy Basha talked to him.

Al-Basha: Why do you keep rebelling?
Ibn Su'ud: The war goes on; you lose sometimes and you win other times.
Al-Basha: How did you find my son, Ibrahim Basha?
Ibn Su'ud: He was not reckless but he put forth effort and so did we until what Allah had willed happened.
Al-Basha: I will petition our master, the Sultan, on your behalf.
Ibn Su'ud: What Allah willed to be shall be.

Al-Basha ordered a robe (26) to be put on Ibn Su'ud before he left to the house of Isma'il Basha in Bulaq (27). Abdullah Ibn Su'ud had a small metal box with him.

Al-Basha: What is this?
Ibn Su'ud: This was taken by my father from the room of the Nabi. I am taking it with me to the Sultan.

Al-Basha ordered the box to be opened. They found three Mushafs in it--the like of which no one had ever seen--and with them were 300 large pearls, one large emerald, and a golden ribbon.

Al-Basha: You have taken much more than that.
Ibn Su'ud: This is what I found kept by my father. He did not take all what was in the room for himself. The Bedouin tribesmen, the people of al-Madinah, the Aghas of al-Haram, and the Sharif of Makkah also removed things from the Nabi’s room.
Al-Basha: That is true. We found some of these things with the Sharif.

Then 'Abdullah Ibn Su'ud was sent to the place of the Sultan. In Muharram, 1235 A.H., Ibrahim Basha returned to Egypt from al-Hijaz after he destroyed ad-Dar'iyyah such that it was abandoned by its inhabitants. When Ibn Su'ud reached the headquarters of the Sultanate in Rabi'-ul-’Awwal, he was paraded around the city for all the people to see. He was then put to death at the Door of Hamayun (as a punishment for his crimes). The chiefs of his followers were executed in different places.


Conclusion


This is a very brief summary of the story of Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab. To talk at length on each of these details would be very lengthy. The tribulations inflicted by the Wahhabis were a calamity for the Muslims. The Wahhabis shed a great deal of blood and robbed a great deal of money; their harm was prevalent and their evil spread.

Many of the hadiths of the Nabi, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, spoke explicitly about this tribulation. One narration said:



which means: <> This hadith was mentioned in many narrations, including Sahih-ul-Bukhariyy and other books of hadith. There is no need to expound on listing these narrations or their narrators because they are well-known and of the sahih (29) classification.

The Nabi said: "Their sign is shaving their heads." This is an explicit reference to the Wahhabi sect. They used to order all those who follow them to shave their heads. None of the previous sects, i.e., those who came before the Wahhabis, like the Khawarij or other innovators, had this sign.

As-Sayyid 'Abdur-Rahman al-Ahdal, the Mufti of Zabid, used to say: "There is no need for writing against the Wahhabis. For, in refuting them, it is sufficient to mention the hadith of the Nabi, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam: <> since no other innovators had ever done it."

It happened once that a women made her point against Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab when they compelled her to follow them and she did. He ordered her to shave her head. She told him: "Since you order the woman to shave her head, you have to order the man to shave his beard. The hair of the women is her decoration and the decoration of the man is his beard." Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab could not answer her.

Among of what the Wahhabis used to do was to prevent the people from asking the Nabi, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, for his intercession--although the hadiths about the Nabi’s intercession are numerous and are of the mutawatir (30) classification. Most of his intercession is for the Muslims of his nation who committed major sins. The Wahhabis also prohibited Muslims from reading Dala’il-ul-Khayrat--which includes saying as-Salat on the Nabi and mentioning many of the Nabi’s complete descriptions. They said this is blasphemy. They also prevented Muslims from saying as-Salat on the Nabi on the minarets after the Adhan. Once a righteous blind Muslim was calling Adhan and said as-Salat on the Nabi after the Adhan (31). The Wahhabis brought him to Ibn 'Abdul-Wahhab who ordered his execution.

If I [the author] was to pursue the mischievous things the Wahhabis did, I would fill notebooks and lots of papers. However, what has been mentioned thus far is enough.

Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, knows best.



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Footnote

1) Al-Hijaz refers to the western part of Arabia which includes Mecca and Medina.
2) Al-Haramayn refers to Mecca and Medina.
3) Ash-Sham refers to the area that includes Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine.
4) Only the first adversity will be presented in this booklet.
5) Tawassul is asking Allah for goodness by a prophet, righteous believer, etc.
6) Shirk refers to associating partners to Allah.
7) The People of Tawhid refers to the Muslims.
8) Ad-Dar'iyyah is a region north of the city of Riyad, Saudi Arabia.
9) Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab was a blasphemous man who claimed the status of prophethood for himself after the death of Prophet Muhammad. He was killed by the Muslims during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, may Allah raise his rank.
10) Ibn Majah and others related this hadith and the-Hafidh, Ibn Hajar, deemed it a strong hadith.
11) The Prophet called her `my mother' out of likening her to his real mother.
12) Sixteen hafidhs of hadith classified this hadith as sahih, including at-Tirmidhiyy, at-Tabaraniyy, al-Bayhaqiyy, as-Subkiyy, among others.
13) It is clear in the narrations of this hadith, the blind man was not in the session of the Prophet when he did as the Prophet ordered him.
14) Salah of 'Istisqa' refers to performing a specific prayer which includes making supplication for rain.
15) Al-Bayhaqiyy related this hadith and classified it as Sahih.
16) Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sulaym al-Kurdiyy was the one who wrote al-Hashiyah on the explanation of Ibn Hajar to the text of Bafadl.
17) It is mentioned in a hadith it is easier for the devil to trick the lonely person who is away from other Muslims. The Prophet, sallallahu al 'alayhi wa sallam, while encouraging the Muslims to perform the prayers in congregation said:



which means: "Moreover, the wolf will eat the lonely lamb."
18) Among these hadiths is the one related by ad-Daraqutniyy that the Prophet said: "On the Day of Judgment, I will intercede for the one who visits my grave with the good intention."
19) At-Ta’if is a city in Hijaz. Dhul-Qa'dah is the eleventh month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
20) The 'Uthmaniyy State was the Islamic state governing Turkey, parts of the ex-USSR, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, ex-Yugoslavia, Albania, Iraq, the Arabic peninsula, Egypt, ash-Sham, Libya, and other areas.
21) The cloak of the Ka'bah is the cloth covering the Ka'bah.
22) Salonika is a town in Greece.
23) Hasan Basha was one of the leaders of the Egyptian army.
24) Riyals were a unit of silver currency at that time.
25) This transport of ammunition involved crossing the Red Sea by ship and then crossing the land by camel.
26) Clothing with a nice garment is a traditional show of generosity.
27) Bulaq is an area in Cairo.
28) This means they do not understand the meaning of what they read.
29) A sahih hadith is a hadith which is related by a trustworthy Muslim from another trustworthy Muslim back to the Nabi or his Companion, and is devoid of any defect in this narration.
30) A mutawatir hadith is a hadith related by a large number of Muslims who witnessed it and conveyed it to large group of people who conveyed it to another large number and so on, until it reached us. Such a hadith is narrated in a way which is impossible for the narrators to have agreed to lie about it.
31) Adhan is the Call for Prayer.