Figurative interpretation of the attributes
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The first question of Fatwa No. ( 5082 ):
Q1: We learned in the schools that the school of the people of the Sunnah and the community regarding the names and attributes of Allah is to believe in them without distortion, denial, asking how, or likening Allah to creation, and not to divert the texts concerning them from their apparent meanings. However, we later met people who claimed to us that there are two schools within the school of the people of the Sunnah and the community . The first school is the school of Ibn Taymiyyah and his students (may Allah have mercy on them), and the second school is the school of the Asha'irah . What we learned is what was mentioned by Ibn Taymiyyah and his students, whereas the rest of the people of the Sunnah and the community , such as the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah and others, hold that there is no objection to the figurative interpretation of the attributes and names of Allah, provided that this interpretation does not conflict with a legal text. They argue for this by citing what was said by Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) and others in this matter. Indeed, the Imam of the people of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal , interpreted some of the attributes, such as the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 56:80, and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq 12:796, and the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Hadid 57:4], and so on. The question now is: Is the division of the people of the Sunnah and the community into two sects
in this manner correct? What is your opinion regarding their claim that figurative interpretation is permissible if it does not conflict with a legal text? What is our position toward the scholars who interpreted the attributes, such as Ibn Hajar, al-Nawawi, and Ibn al-Jawzi and others? Do we consider them among the Imams of the people of the Sunnah and the community , or what? Do we say that they erred in their interpretations, or were they misguided in that? It is well known that the Asha'irah interpret all the attributes except the seven attributes of meaning. If a scholar is found interpreting two or three attributes, is he considered an Ash'ari?
A1: First: The claim that the Imam Ahmad interpreted some of the texts of the attributes, such as the hadithSunan Ibn Majah 3834, and the hadith Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq 12:796, etc., is an incorrect claim. The Imam Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah said: "As for what Abu Hamid al-Ghazali related from some of the Hanbalis that Ahmad did not interpret except three things: 'The Black Stone is the right hand of Allah on earth,' and 'The hearts of the servants are between two fingers of the fingers of the Most Merciful,' and 'I find the soul of the Most Merciful from the direction of Yemen,' this report is a lie about Ahmad . No one has transmitted it from him with a chain of narration, and none of his companions is known to have transmitted this from him. This Hanbali about whom Abu Hamid spoke is unknown; neither his knowledge of what he said nor his truthfulness in what he said is known." End of quote. From page 398 of volume 5 of [Majmu' al-Fatawa].
And the clarification of this is that interpretation has three meanings: The first: The outcome of a thing and its reality to which it leads, as in His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He) about Yusuf (peace be upon him):, meaning the reality to which it led in occurrence. This is not what is intended in the texts mentioned in the question. The second: Interpretation in the sense of diverting speech from its apparent, immediate meaning to a hidden, distant meaning due to a context. This is the term used by the scholars of theology and the principles of jurisprudence, and it is not realized in the texts mentioned in the question, for their apparent meaning is intended and not diverted from, because it is the truth, as will be explained in the last meaning of interpretation. The third: Interpretation in the sense of exegesis, which is explaining the meaning of speech by what its apparent meaning indicates and what comes to the mind of the listener who is an expert in the language of the Arabs. This is what is intended here. The phrase "The Black Stone is the right hand of Allah on earth" does not have as its apparent meaning that the stone is an attribute of Allah and that it is His right hand, such that it would be diverted from that. Rather, its apparent meaning is that it is like His right hand, as evidenced by the rest of the report, which is the phrase: "Whoever shakes its hand is as if he has shaken the hand of Allah, and whoever kisses it is as if he has kissed the right hand of Allah." When one combines the beginning of the report with its end, it becomes clear to him that its apparent meaning is intended and not diverted from, and that it is the truth. This is what the Imams of the Salaf, such as the Imam Ahmad and others among them, say. It is interpretation in the sense of
interpretation does not mean diverting the speech from its apparent meaning, as the later scholars claimed, knowing that what was mentioned is not a valid hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but rather a report from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). The same applies to the hadithSunan Ibn Majah 3834 The attribution of one part of the sentence to the other indicates the perfection of the power of the Most Merciful and the perfection of His control over His servants, just as one says: "So-and-so stood before the king" or "in the grasp of the king's hand." That does not necessitate touching or entering, but its apparent meaning indicates the existence of a person and a king who has two hands. The attribution in the speech indicates the presence of a person before the king and the king's ability to control him without touching or entering. The same applies to the saying of Allah the Exalted: , and His saying: , and the like. Second: The division of the people of the Sunnah and the community into two sects in this manner is incorrect. The explanation is that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were one nation in creed and politics until the caliphate of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), when signs of disagreement appeared in politics, not in creed. When he was killed, a group pledged allegiance to Ali and others pledged allegiance to Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with them), and what occurred between them of
political wars led to the emergence of a sect called: the Khawarij . They did not differ with the Muslims on the six principles of faith or the five pillars upon which Islam is built, but they differed with them on the contract of the caliphate, declaring someone a disbeliever for major sins, wiping over the two feet in ablution, and the like. Then a group from the followers of Ali exaggerated in his regard until some of them worshipped him, and they were called the Shi'ah . Then each of the Khawarij and the Shi'ah split into factions. Then a group denied the divine decree, and that was at the end of the era of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), so they were called the Qadariyyah. Then came al-Ja'd ibn Dirham , who was the first to deny the attributes of Allah and to interpret the texts of verses and hadiths concerning them other than their meanings, so Khalid al-Qasri killed him. His student, al-Jahm ibn Safwan , followed him in denying and interpreting them, and it became famous through him, so this abominable doctrine was attributed to him, and those who held it were known as the Jahmiyyah. Then the Mu'tazilah emerged and followed the Jahmiyyah in interpreting the texts of the attributes, calling it purification, and followed the Qadariyyah in denying the divine decree, calling it justice, and followed the Khawarij in rebelling against the rulers, calling it enjoining good and forbidding evil, among other doctrines of theirs. Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Isma'il al-Ash'ari grew up on their school and believed in their principles, then Allah guided him to the truth, so he repented from the Mu'tazilah and adhered to the path of the people of the Sunnah and the community , and he exerted himself in refuting those who opposed them in the principles of Islam (may Allah have mercy on him). However, some traces of the school of the Mu'tazilah remained in him, such as interpreting the texts of the attributes of actions, and he was influenced by the saying of al-Jahm ibn Safwan in
The actions of the servants, so he held to the doctrine of compulsion and called it *kasb* (acquisition). Other matters become clear to one who reads his book *Al-Ibanah*, which he composed at the end of his life, as it also becomes clear from what his companions wrote about him, for they knew him better than anyone else, and from what Ibn Taymiyyah wrote about him in his works, may Allah have mercy on them. From what has preceded, it becomes clear that the people of the Sunnah and the community are truly those who held fast to the Book of Allah the Exalted and the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in their beliefs and the rest of the foundations of their religion, and did not oppose their texts with reason or desire. They adhered to what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon regarding the pillars of faith and the pillars of Islam, so they became the imams of guidance, the beacons of truth, and the callers to good and success; such as al-Hasan al-Basri and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and Mujahid and Abu Hanifah and Malik and al-Shafi'i and al-Awza'i and Ahmad and Ishaq and al-Bukhari , and those who followed their path and committed to their methodology in belief and argumentation. As for those who deviated from them in matters of the foundations of the religion, they possess of the Sunnah only to the extent that they retained what they agreed with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and the imams of guidance upon regarding the issues of the foundations of Islam, and they possess of religious innovation and error only to the extent that they contradicted them in that, whether little or much. The closest of them to the people of the Sunnah and the community is Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and those who followed him in belief and argumentation. And by this it is known that there are not two schools for the people of the Sunnah and the community ; rather, it is one school, and its defense and calling to it is undertaken by those who follow their path. Ibn Taymiyyah is among those who stood for that and devoted his life to it, and he is not the one who established
this path; rather, he is a follower of what the imams of guidance from the Companions and those who followed them from the scholars of the three centuries that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified to as being the best were upon. Likewise, his opponents only stood to defend the school of those they imitated who claimed affiliation with the people of the Sunnah and the community , such as Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and his followers, after he returned from the Mu'tazilah and followed the path of the people of the Sunnah, except in a few issues. Therefore, he was closer to the way of the people of the Sunnah and the community than the other sects. Thirdly: Those who interpret the texts of the names and attributes from among the Ash'aris and their like only interpreted them because they believed they contradicted rational evidence and some of the texts of the Shari'ah. This is not the case, for there is nothing in them that contradicts clear reason, and there is nothing in them that contradicts the texts. The texts of the Shari'ah regarding the names and attributes of Allah corroborate one another, despite their abundance, in affirming the names and attributes of Allah in reality and purifying Him (Glorified and Exalted is He) from resembling His creation. Fourthly: Our position regarding Abu Bakr al-Baqillani and al-Bayhaqi and Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and Abu Zakariyya al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar and their like, who interpreted some of the attributes of Allah the Exalted or deferred regarding their original meaning, is that in our view, they are among the great scholars of the Muslims, whom Allah benefited the community with their knowledge, so may Allah have mercy on them with a vast mercy and reward them with the best reward. And they are from the people of the Sunnah in what they agreed with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and the imams of the Salaf in the three centuries that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified to as being the best. And they erred in what they interpreted from the texts of the attributes, contradicting the Salaf of the community and the imams of the Sunnah, may Allah have mercy on them
whether they interpreted the essential attributes and the attributes of actions, or some of that. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q1: We learned in the schools that the school of the people of the Sunnah and the community regarding the names and attributes of Allah is to believe in them without distortion, denial, asking how, or likening Allah to creation, and not to divert the texts concerning them from their apparent meanings. However, we later met people who claimed to us that there are two schools within the school of the people of the Sunnah and the community . The first school is the school of Ibn Taymiyyah and his students (may Allah have mercy on them), and the second school is the school of the Asha'irah . What we learned is what was mentioned by Ibn Taymiyyah and his students, whereas the rest of the people of the Sunnah and the community , such as the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah and others, hold that there is no objection to the figurative interpretation of the attributes and names of Allah, provided that this interpretation does not conflict with a legal text. They argue for this by citing what was said by Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) and others in this matter. Indeed, the Imam of the people of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal , interpreted some of the attributes, such as the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
The hearts of the children of Adam are between two fingers of the fingers of the Most Merciful.
قلوب بني آدم بين أصبعين من أصابع الرحمنThe Black Stone is the right hand of Allah on earth
الحجر الأسود يمين الله في الأرضand He is with you wherever you are
وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْin this manner correct? What is your opinion regarding their claim that figurative interpretation is permissible if it does not conflict with a legal text? What is our position toward the scholars who interpreted the attributes, such as Ibn Hajar, al-Nawawi, and Ibn al-Jawzi and others? Do we consider them among the Imams of the people of the Sunnah and the community , or what? Do we say that they erred in their interpretations, or were they misguided in that? It is well known that the Asha'irah interpret all the attributes except the seven attributes of meaning. If a scholar is found interpreting two or three attributes, is he considered an Ash'ari?
A1: First: The claim that the Imam Ahmad interpreted some of the texts of the attributes, such as the hadith
Hearts are between two of the fingers of the Most Merciful
قلوب العباد بين أصبعين من أصابع الرحمن...The Black Stone is the hand of Allah on earth...
الحجر الأسود يمين الله في الأرض...And the clarification of this is that interpretation has three meanings: The first: The outcome of a thing and its reality to which it leads, as in His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He) about Yusuf (peace be upon him):
This is the interpretation of my vision from before.
هَذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِنْ قَبْلُinterpretation does not mean diverting the speech from its apparent meaning, as the later scholars claimed, knowing that what was mentioned is not a valid hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but rather a report from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). The same applies to the hadith
Hearts are between two of the fingers of the Most Merciful
قلوب العباد بين أصبعين من أصابع الرحمنIn His hand is the dominion
بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُIt moves by Our eyes
تَجْرِي بِأَعْيُنِنَاpolitical wars led to the emergence of a sect called: the Khawarij . They did not differ with the Muslims on the six principles of faith or the five pillars upon which Islam is built, but they differed with them on the contract of the caliphate, declaring someone a disbeliever for major sins, wiping over the two feet in ablution, and the like. Then a group from the followers of Ali exaggerated in his regard until some of them worshipped him, and they were called the Shi'ah . Then each of the Khawarij and the Shi'ah split into factions. Then a group denied the divine decree, and that was at the end of the era of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), so they were called the Qadariyyah. Then came al-Ja'd ibn Dirham , who was the first to deny the attributes of Allah and to interpret the texts of verses and hadiths concerning them other than their meanings, so Khalid al-Qasri killed him. His student, al-Jahm ibn Safwan , followed him in denying and interpreting them, and it became famous through him, so this abominable doctrine was attributed to him, and those who held it were known as the Jahmiyyah. Then the Mu'tazilah emerged and followed the Jahmiyyah in interpreting the texts of the attributes, calling it purification, and followed the Qadariyyah in denying the divine decree, calling it justice, and followed the Khawarij in rebelling against the rulers, calling it enjoining good and forbidding evil, among other doctrines of theirs. Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Isma'il al-Ash'ari grew up on their school and believed in their principles, then Allah guided him to the truth, so he repented from the Mu'tazilah and adhered to the path of the people of the Sunnah and the community , and he exerted himself in refuting those who opposed them in the principles of Islam (may Allah have mercy on him). However, some traces of the school of the Mu'tazilah remained in him, such as interpreting the texts of the attributes of actions, and he was influenced by the saying of al-Jahm ibn Safwan in
The actions of the servants, so he held to the doctrine of compulsion and called it *kasb* (acquisition). Other matters become clear to one who reads his book *Al-Ibanah*, which he composed at the end of his life, as it also becomes clear from what his companions wrote about him, for they knew him better than anyone else, and from what Ibn Taymiyyah wrote about him in his works, may Allah have mercy on them. From what has preceded, it becomes clear that the people of the Sunnah and the community are truly those who held fast to the Book of Allah the Exalted and the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in their beliefs and the rest of the foundations of their religion, and did not oppose their texts with reason or desire. They adhered to what the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon regarding the pillars of faith and the pillars of Islam, so they became the imams of guidance, the beacons of truth, and the callers to good and success; such as al-Hasan al-Basri and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and Mujahid and Abu Hanifah and Malik and al-Shafi'i and al-Awza'i and Ahmad and Ishaq and al-Bukhari , and those who followed their path and committed to their methodology in belief and argumentation. As for those who deviated from them in matters of the foundations of the religion, they possess of the Sunnah only to the extent that they retained what they agreed with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and the imams of guidance upon regarding the issues of the foundations of Islam, and they possess of religious innovation and error only to the extent that they contradicted them in that, whether little or much. The closest of them to the people of the Sunnah and the community is Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and those who followed him in belief and argumentation. And by this it is known that there are not two schools for the people of the Sunnah and the community ; rather, it is one school, and its defense and calling to it is undertaken by those who follow their path. Ibn Taymiyyah is among those who stood for that and devoted his life to it, and he is not the one who established
this path; rather, he is a follower of what the imams of guidance from the Companions and those who followed them from the scholars of the three centuries that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified to as being the best were upon. Likewise, his opponents only stood to defend the school of those they imitated who claimed affiliation with the people of the Sunnah and the community , such as Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari and his followers, after he returned from the Mu'tazilah and followed the path of the people of the Sunnah, except in a few issues. Therefore, he was closer to the way of the people of the Sunnah and the community than the other sects. Thirdly: Those who interpret the texts of the names and attributes from among the Ash'aris and their like only interpreted them because they believed they contradicted rational evidence and some of the texts of the Shari'ah. This is not the case, for there is nothing in them that contradicts clear reason, and there is nothing in them that contradicts the texts. The texts of the Shari'ah regarding the names and attributes of Allah corroborate one another, despite their abundance, in affirming the names and attributes of Allah in reality and purifying Him (Glorified and Exalted is He) from resembling His creation. Fourthly: Our position regarding Abu Bakr al-Baqillani and al-Bayhaqi and Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and Abu Zakariyya al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar and their like, who interpreted some of the attributes of Allah the Exalted or deferred regarding their original meaning, is that in our view, they are among the great scholars of the Muslims, whom Allah benefited the community with their knowledge, so may Allah have mercy on them with a vast mercy and reward them with the best reward. And they are from the people of the Sunnah in what they agreed with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and the imams of the Salaf in the three centuries that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified to as being the best. And they erred in what they interpreted from the texts of the attributes, contradicting the Salaf of the community and the imams of the Sunnah, may Allah have mercy on them
whether they interpreted the essential attributes and the attributes of actions, or some of that. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.