QUESTION: Assalaamu 3laykum sheikh. A salafi wrote: Volume 2, Book 21, Number 246: Narrated Abu Huraira: Allahs Apostle (p.b.u.h) said, Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him? If he comes down - where do you think he comes down from - obviously he is above everything. This Hadith is from sahih Bukhari. We only say about Allah that which he says about himself - ? We dont dare say anything else. How do I refute this? ANSWER: wa ^alaykum As-Salaam. I cannot make a very short answer for this fallacy, but I will try to make it clear. Understanding this answer is by knowing a principle mentioned by Al-ˆIraqiyy: و خير ما فسرته بالوارد “The best of what you use to interpret a hadith is another hadith.” Ibn Hajar Al-^Asqalaaniyy copied that among the narrations of “the hadith of Nuzul (descending)” is the narration with a dammah on the beginning (YUNZILU RABBUNAA; Our Lord descends; i.e. dispatches), while omitting the direct object, i.e., “an Angel, or His mercies. Both of these explanations are narrated from the Salaf. However, what strengthens that the dispatched one is an Angel is what was narrated by An-Nasa’iyy: إنَّ اللهَ يمهل حتى يمضى شطر الليل ثم يأمر مناديا يقول هل من داع فيستجاب له “After the middle of the night passes, certainly Allah orders a caller to (descend and) call out Is there anyone making supplication, so that it would be answered for him?” By this it becomes clear that the one who descends is the Angel, not Allah. So this aforementioned narration of An-Nasa’iyy explains the narration of Al-Bukhariyy that was presented to you: يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الآخِرُ يَقُولُ: مَنْ يَدْعُونِي، فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ مَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ، مَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ A Wahhabiyy would say, “This means: Our Lord, tabaraka wa taˆala, descends every night to the lowest sky while the last third of the night remains, and He says, ‘Who calls upon Me so that I might answer him? Who asks Me so that I may grant him? Who seeks My forgiveness so that I may forgive him’?” The Wahhabiyy would continue to say, “It must be Allah who descends IN PERSON, because the Prophet said, ‘Our Lord descends and He (personally) says such and such,’ and had it been the Angel who descended, it would not be valid for the Angel to say, “Who is asking ME so that I may grant him, who is repenting to ME so that I may forgive him?”. The answer is that the Angel, just as he was ordered to descend, he was ordered to call out and CONVEY FROM ALLAH; it is as if the Angel says, “O people, your Lord says, ‘Who is calling Me, who is asking Me, who is repenting to Me’, etc.” This is why the other narration says: ثمَّ يـأمر مناديا يُنَادي يَقُول هَل من دَاع يُسْتَجَاب لَهُ هَل من مُسْتَغْفِر يغْفر لَهُ هَل من سَائل يعْطى “…Then He commands a caller to call out, ‘Is there a supplicator so that he would be answered, is there a repenter so that he would be forgiven, is there and asker so that he would be given?’” The synopsis is that the word “malak (angel)” is omitted, and omission (hathf) is something prevalent in the Arabic language. Thus, the meaning would be, “(By His order) Our Lord descends, i.e., dispatches (an angel) to the lowest sky, and he (the angel) calls out (conveying from Allah; saying that Allah says): Is there anyone asking so that I may answer him, is there anyone repenting so that I may forgive him?”. By this we have taken all of the narrations of the hadith, and by their explanation, the Wahhabiyyah have ignored several narrations to support their ill conviction. So this hadith neither proves that Allah descends from above nor that He was above everything in location. Don’t forget that those Wahhabis, by their explanation, contradict the authentic, explicit hadith: وَأَنْتَ الظَّاهِرُ فَلَيْسَ فَوْقَكَ شَيْءٌ، وَأَنْتَ الْبَاطِنُ فَلَيْسَ دُونَكَ شَيْءٌ “You, Allah, Are Adh-Dhahir, and there is nothing above you, and you are Al-Batin, and there is nothing below you.” If Allah rose above something then something is below him, and if He descends down, then He would be below something, and hence something would be above Him. I hope that is clear. Don’t forget that the knowledge is by hearing it from a teacher, not reading.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 18:18:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015