Where is Allah? This is a question that chokes the throats of the innovators and people of desires. A question by which the messenger (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) confirmed the emaan of the slave girl as mentioned in the authentic narration. A question that the scholars of the sunnah have addressed and recognised the importance of, while the people of misguidance have mocked, tried to avoid and explained away. It is easy to see what a man is upon when he brings his answer to this question. Is he someone who affirms the texts of the Quran and Sunnah upon their apparent meaning (as was the way of the companions)? Or does he seek to come up with interpretations for the clear proofs? Or does he outright deny them? As is always the case, the people of innovation and misguidance seek fame, fortune and followers; so they speak brazenly with little shame about this topic. I wont mention the new pretenders by name because they arent worth the effort but alhamdulillah, this is another opportunity to clarify the truth for our muslim brothers and sisters. One thing we must understand when looking at the question of where is Allah? is that Allah has perfect name and attributes - these have been mentioned in the Quran and in the Sunnah. These names and attributes are those which have been taught to us so that we may know Allah and that we may worship Him by them. Likewise, we must accept that knowledge about Allah is from the matters of the unseen; therefore we cannot come up with our own interpretations / definitions because we will then be speaking without knowledge - who is more knowledgeable about Allah than He is about Himself or than His messenger (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) is about Him? There are hundreds of proofs in the Quran and Sunnah that indicate that Allah is above His throne, above and separate from His creation. This loftiness / highness of Allah is one of His attributes. When we say Allah is above His throne this DOES NOT indicate sitting or being contained within the throne. It is very simple - we simply affirm what is mentioned in the texts without comparing / denying / distorting For example - when we say Allah is above His throne: We do not say He sits or is contained above His throne because He did not affirm that for himself nor did the messenger (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) affirm that for Him. Likewise, we do not compare His ascending to the way one of the creation ascends. Nor do we deny his ascending. Nor do we interpret His ascending to mean conquering etc. This is the way of the people of the sunnah - we stick to what is mentioned in the texts while at the SAME TIME affirming that there is nothing like Allah in any way, shape or form. We simply submit and affirm the perfection of any and every attribute of Allah, free from any imperfections whatsoever. Some proofs from the Quran that Allah ascended over His throne and proofs of His Highness: The Most Merciful rose over the Throne(20:5) They fear their Lord ABOVE them, and they do what they are commanded (16: 50) And He [Allaah] is al-Qaahir ABOVE His slaves. (6:18) And (remember) when Allaah said: O `Eesa (Jesus)! I will take you and RAISE you to Myself (3:55) To Him ASCEND [all] the goodly words (35:10) The angels and the rooh (Jibreel) ASCEND to Him. (70:4) Verily We: It is We Who have sent DOWN the thikr (i.e. the Quran) (15:9) Do you feel secure that He, who is ABOVE the heaven [Allaah], will not cause the earth to sink. (67:16) Some proofs from the Sunnah that affirm the Highness (uluw) of Allah Abdullah bin Amr reported that the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: Be merciful to those on earth, so that the One above the heavens will be merciful to you. (At-Tabarani and Al-Haakim with similar wording in at-Tirmidhi) Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: There are hundred levels in Jannah which Allah has prepared for the Mujahideen who fight in His cause. Between on level and another is a distance which is equal to that between the earth and the heaven. When you ask Allah, azza wajull, ask Him for Firdaws, because it is situated in the midst and Highest point of Jannah from where the rivers of Jannah spring, and above it is the Arsh of the Most Merciful. (Imam al-Bukhari, Ahmad, and others) Muawiyah as-Sahmi reported: I had some sheep which I kept between Uhud and Juwaniyyah with a slave-girl to look after them. One day, I went out to check on my sheep and discovered that a wolf had devoured one of them. Since I am just a human, (I became angry) and struck the girl. Later on, I came to the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) and reported to him the incident. He terrified me with the gravity of my action. I said, Messenger of Allah! Shall I free her (as an expiation of my sin.) He said Call her over. When I did, he asked her, Where is Allah? She said, Above the heavens. Then he asked her, Who am I? She said, The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) . Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) ordered me, Free her. She is a believer. Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) said: Our Rubb, the Blessed, the Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven every night, during the last third of the night, and says: Anyone calls Me, I will respond to him? Is there anyone asking for anything? I will give it to him? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, I will forgive him? (Imam Malik, Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim, and others) (The words of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) : Our Rubb, the Blessed, the Exalted, descends to the lowest heaven, clearly indicate the essential Highness or Loftiness of Allah, the Exalted.) Zainab, the wife of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) , used to claim excellence over the rest of his wives by telling them, It is only your parents who gave you in marriage to the Prophet (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) , while it is Allah Who gave me in marriage to him from above the seven heavens.(Al-Bukhari.) Ibn Umar passed by a shepherd and asked him, Do you have a sheep fit for slaughter? Its owner is around, the shepherd answered. Tell him that the wolf devoured it. Ibn Umar said to him. Thereupon, the shepherd uplifted his head towards the heaven and said, Then where is Allah? Ibn Umar responded, By Allah. It is I who should have said, Where is Allah. He later on bought off the sheep and the shepherd and freed the latter and gave him the sheep.(Ad-dhahabi) These are just a few places where the Highness of Allah and His rising above His throne are mentioned. I have not mentioned them all. The ignorant ones come with the following arguments: Doubt 1) You have confined Allah to a place or direction! This is pure ignorance and shows the evil fruits of putting the intellect over the texts. Place and direction only exist within the creation and are relative to one another within the creation. Outside of the creation there is no place, no direction. There is only Allah. (See the debate at the end for more information) When there was no creation there was only Allah. Did He then create within Himself or did he separate Himself from His creation? To say the creation is within Allah or that Allah is within the creation is Kufr. So Allah created the creation separate to Himself. Did He create it above Himself? Aouthubillah! Likewise we have the night journey when the messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was raised up to Allah. The texts of the Quran and Sunnah, the consensus of the companions and early scholars as well as the sound intellect all indicate that Allah is above His throne, above and separate from His creation. Doubt 2) These are from the unclear verses of the Quran (mutashaabihaat) Allahs aid is sought! The verses where the Almighty tells us about Himself in pure simple arabic are unclear for you?!? Perhaps the shaytan has come between you and your intellect so now these things of pure clarity become unclear? The greatest of all knowledge is the knowledge of Allah. How is it then conceivable that the texts which inform the slave of His creator are unclear?! If this is the case, then all the verses that inform us about other aspects of the unseen such as paradise, hell, the day of judgement etc must also be unclear! Do you see how much evil results when we do not submit to and accept the names and attributes of Allah?! This is why we regularly find those who are not grounded in aqeedah swaying from this position to that - the knowledge of asma wa al siffaat has not taken root in their hearts so they dont know Allah as they should, leading them to misguidance and loss. There follows some simple decisive statements from the scholars on this issue. Before I mention them however, I warn you of those misguided people who search for the mistakes of scholars of sunnah (which they all made as they are human) and then use these mistakes to support their own arguments. Beware of such devious people who reject the whole of what the scholar of sunnah was upon and only accept what fits with their whims and desires. From Imam Al Bukharis Khalq Afaal Ebaad Wahb bin Jareer said, The Jahmiyyah are heretics, they think that He has not risen over His Throne Ibn al-Mubaarak said, we do not say as the Jahmiyyah say that Allaah is on the earth, rather He has risen over His Throne. Muhammad bin Yusuf said (one of the teachers of Bukhaaree), the one who says that Allaah is not over (alaa) His Throne is a kaafir. And the one who thinks that Allaah did not speak to Moses is a kaafir. Ibn Masud (RA) said about His saying, then He rose over His Throne, - the Throne is over the water, and Allaah is above (fawqa) the Throne, and He knows what you are upon. From Sharh Usul Itiqaad Ahlus Sunnah of al-Laalikaaee Abdullaah bin Abbaas (RA) said, Verily Allaah was above His Throne before He created anything, then He created the creation and decreed what was to exist until the Day of Judgement. Rabee (one of the teachers of Maalik) was asked about the verse, The Most Merciful rose over His Throne - how did He rise? He replied, al-istiwaa (rising) is known, and the how is not comprehensible, and from Allaah is the message, and upon the Messenger is the preaching, and upon us is believing. Imaam Ahmad was asked, Allaah is above the seventh heaven, above His Throne, distinct from his creation, and His Power and Knowledge are in every place? And he replied, yes, above the Throne and His Knowledge is in every place. Al Qurtubee said - And the Salaf of the very first times - may Allaah be pleased with them all - never used to negate direction (al-jihah) for Allaah and nor did they used to express this (negation). Rather, they, and all of the others, used to speak with its affirmation for Allaah, the Most High just as His Book has spoken about it and just as His Messengers informed of it. And not a single one of the Salaf denied that his ascending (istawaa) the Throne was real and true (haqeeqah) (as opposed to metaphorical, majaaz). And Allaah specified the Throne with istawaa because that is the greatest of all His creation. However they assumed ignorance only of the exact nature (kaifiyyah) of istiwaa, for the true nature of that is not known. Imaam Maalik said, ‘Istiwaa is known…’, meaning in the language, ‘…its true nature is unknown and asking about it is an innovation. Many of the past and contemporary philosophers said, ‘When it is necessary to purify the Creator (al-Baaree) - whose Magnificence is great - from having direction (jihah) and demarcation (tamayyuz), then from the requirements and necessary consequences of this, in the view of most of the past scholars and their leading contemporaries, is the purify the Creator (al-Baaree) from having direction (jihah). In their view, direction does not have the aspect of ‘above’ to it. This is because to them, when Allaah is designated with direction, this would necessitate that He is restricted to a place (makaan) and a confine (hayyiz). (Subsequently), a place and a confine necessitate (for Him) (such) movement and stillness that is related to distinction (tamayyuz), transformation (taghayyur) and new occurrences (hudooth) . This is the saying of the philosophers. I (adh-Dhahabee) say, Yes, this is what the deniers of the ‘uluww (highness) of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, have depended upon. And they turned away from the requirement of the Book, the Sunnah, the sayings of the Salaf and the innate dispositions of the whole of creation. What they claim to be necessitated (from affirming Allaah’s highness) is only applicable to created bodies. Yet there is nothing like Allaah and the necessities arising from the clear and evident texts (of the Book and the Sunnah) are also true. However, we do not make use of any explanation except one that comes through a narration. In addition to this we say, ‘We do not accept that the Creator’s being upon His Throne and above the heavens, necessitates that He is confined and in spatial direction, since whatever is below the Throne is said to be confined and in spatial direction. However, what is above the Throne is not like that. And Allaah is above the Throne as the very first generation are unanimously agreed upon and as the imaams after them have quoted from them The Shaikh, Muhaddith and Imaam of the era, Naasir ud-Deen al-Albaabee - may Allaah guard him - said, commenting upon the words of adh-Dhahabee, I say: Yes, only those who speak with Wahdatul-Wujood (the Unity of Existence) understand this, and that the Creator and the created are one and the same thing, rather, nothing exists which is called creator or creation, everything you see with your eye is Allaah! Exalted is Allaah from what the oppressors say. And perhaps Jahm (ibn Safwaan) and his likes from the very first callers (to this misguidance) used to intend to implant the aqeedah of the Wahdatul-Wujood, that which necessitates the denial of the existence of the Creator, the Blessed and Exalted, by their saying Allaah is in every place and that He is not upon the Throne. However, (they would do this) in a hidden and repugnant way. This is why the Salafs rejection of him and his followers was very severe and some of them made it very clear - as has preceded in the biography of the Imaam Ibn al-Mubaarak and others - that the Jahmiyyah claim that Allaah is not an entity (i.e. not in existence). So what then would the righteous Salaf say if they were to hear on this day, the excessive Soofees saying while upon the pulpits (of the mosques), Allaah is not above, nor below, nor to the right, nor to the left, nor in front, nor behind, nor inside the creation, nor outside of it!. (The excerpts above are taken from Spubs online) Finally, for additional benefit and as an additional thorn in the neck of the people of innovation, I have included the debate between Sheikh Al Albani and an azhari sheikh: Debate about where is Allah Azhari Shaikh: You (the Salafis) have put Allah in a place Shaikh Al Albani: May Allah be raised above this! This is a great lie . The Shaikh then said: Then a research between myself and him came about I (Shaikh Al Albani) said to him: Oh teacher! is place (Makaan) something present or absent? Azhari Shaikh: No, it is something present I said: And is what is present limited or unlimited? Azhari Shaikh: Limited I said: Ok let us research now: we are on the earth, what is above us? Azhari Shaikh: The ifrst heaven. I said: Until the seventh? Azhari Shaikh: Until the 7th I said: And above the seventh? Azhari Shaikh: The throne. I said: And above the throne what is there? Azhari Shaikh: Above the throne are the Karuubeeyuun! I said: And what are there Karuubeeyuun? Azhari Shaikh: These are angels. I said: Do you know a verse of the Qur’an that says that there are angels called Karuubeeyuun? Azhari Shaikh: Nope I said: Is there a Hadeeth from the Messenger (Salallahu alaihi wa sallam) that says this? He said: Nope I said: Then where did you get this belief from? He said: O teacher! We leant this in Azhar I said: O teacher! didn’t you leanr in Azhar that belief is taken (as they claim) only from an evidence that is sure and affirmed and sure in evidence, they build their belief upon this, that beliefs are not taken from an authentic Hadeeth except if it is Mutawatir (has ten narrators or above in every part of the chain)? He said: Yes I said: Not a verse, not a Hadeeth Mutawatir, not even a Hadeeth Aahad!! So where did you’ll get this belief from? In any case this is not the point, say that there are angels above the throne called Karabeeyuun: above these angels what is there? He said: That is all, all is ended. I said: Is there any place there? He said: No I said: We say that Allah is above the creation, therefore he is not in a place, because place (Makaan) is something created and limited, therefore he is not in a place, therefore when we describe Allah as he described himself why do you explain this belief and this statement which is contrary to what it is? Firstly: Your understanding is that the creation is limited, therefore why do you say: Allah is in a place according to these Mujassimah (those who make Allah similar to his creation) who are called Salaf As Salih, then you explain it contrary to the verses? Why don’t you submit your beliefs according to the evidences that are Mutawatir? Even some of the Imams of Hadeeth like Haafiz Adh Dhahabi wrote a small book which is specific to this which is called: Al ‘Uluuw Lil “alee Al ghaffar. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So we see, and all praise is for Allah, that Allah (the Most High) ascended above His throne in a perfect manner that befits His majesty. He is above His throne which is above the rest of creation. We have not limited Allah to a place or a direction because these things only exist within the creation. All of the texts from the Quran and sunnah, from the understanding of the companions, from the scholars of the sunnah all clearly indicate that Allah is above the creation, above His throne. These texts are not from the unclear verses. Rather we affirm their clarity but do not ask how e.g. how did Allah ascend, how is the descent of Allah in the last third of the night, how does Allah become angry etc. It is only those who delve into theological rhetoric and philosophy who cannot accept the pure blazing clarity of the Quran and Sunnah - probably because they have their foundations in judaism or greek philosophy. We ask Allah to preserve us upon the pure, plain creed of the salaf and protect us from the doubts of the shayateen. And Allah knows best. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the messenger Muhammad, his companions and all those who follow them until the hour.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 04:47:39 +0000
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