Some university professors claim that Ibn Taymiyyah says: that the hadith

The questioner : Professor, in our Aqeedah department at Umm al-Qura University, they accuse Imam Ibn Taymiyyah.

The Shaykh : Raise your voice so that I can hear you clearly first, and so that whoever is far away can also hear clearly.

The questioner : They accuse Imam Ibn Taymiyyah regarding the meaning of the hadith: , saying: that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah does not negate the resemblance (shabah) of the Creator to the created; he affirms the resemblance, and only negates the likeness (mithl), and in his words he says it is like the moon when seen in water, and he argues for this with a letter from "Hamud al-Tuwajiri," "Hamud al-Tuwajiri" published a thesis on this matter; is this statement correct?

The Shaykh : First, who is the one saying this?

The questioner : A professor of Sharia in our Aqeedah department, a professor at Umm al-Qura, I do not like to mention his name because...

The Shaykh : No problem? What is attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah?

The questioner He says that the pronoun refers to Allah - Mighty and Majestic - , and that the negation is the negation of likeness (mithl) and not the negation of resemblance (shabah).

The Shaykh : Where is the negation? In the hadith now, there is no negation.

The questioner : No, .

The Shaykh : Okay, is it in the verse?

The questioner : In the verse.

The Shaykh : Okay, what is the negation in the verse?

The questioner : The likeness (mithl).

The Shaykh : The likeness (mithl).

The questioner : And not the resemblance (shabah).

The Shaykh : And not the resemblance (shabah).

The questioner : He says.

The Shaykh : Who says this?

The questioner : The professor says this about Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, he is reporting it.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And he says that this is mentioned in the thesis that Shaykh al-Tuwajiri compiled.

The Shaykh : What al-Tuwajiri compiled is correct, but is it true that Ibn Taymiyyah in some of his writings leans toward adopting the hadith that al-Tuwajiri authenticated? The hadith that al-Tuwajiri authenticated is worded as: , and this hadith with this wording is denounced (munkar) in my critique, following some of the Imams of hadith, among them Ibn Khuzaymah, whereas the authentic hadith is worded as, or has two wordings: First: There is no "in the image of the Most Merciful" in this hadith; this hadith with this wording is in "Sahih Muslim" and also in "Sahih al-Bukhari." The other wording: in "Sahih al-Bukhari": .
This hadith in al-Bukhari opens the way for us to understand two things: The first: that the pronoun in the hadith agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim: , does not refer to Allah but to the image of Adam; because the second hadith in al-Bukhari is explicit: , and no one can say - even those extremists who liken Allah to creation (mushabbihah) - they cannot say that the height of the Most Merciful is sixty cubits. This is the first benefit we derive from the hadith of al-Bukhari: that the pronoun refers to Adam and not to Allah. The second benefit: the invalidity of al-Tuwajiri's hadith: ; because this differs from the hadith of al-Bukhari: , as for saying: Ibn Taymiyyah did not convey what you just mentioned, this contradicts .
And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
And it is obligatory for all Muslims, and especially our brothers present here, to know that Ibn Taymiyyah - may Allah have mercy on him - is the furthest of people from likening Allah to creation (tashbih), and likewise he is the furthest of people from denial of the divine attributes (ta'til), and the people around him, to the right and to the left, are astray from the straight path. He acts according to the previous verse: Transcendence without denial (ta'til), Affirmation without likening (tashbih), so whoever attributes to Ibn Taymiyyah - and especially this Saqaf, whom the Jordanian nation in particular, and then the Muslim world in general, has been afflicted with - , this man is a liar, a false messiah (dajjal), a great liar, and his transmission is not to be trusted at all; so he accuses Ibn Taymiyyah of ignorance, while the Islamic nation is dependent on him for knowledge, and he accuses Ibn Taymiyyah of ascribing a body to Allah (tajsim), while all his books are refutations of those who ascribe a body to Allah (mujassimah), as he also refutes those who interpret figuratively and deny attributes (mu'awwilah al-mu'tilah), and he has a word that should be written in gold ink, he says: "The one who likens Allah to creation (mushabbih) worships an idol, and the one who denies attributes (mu'til) worships non-existence," both are in misguidance, but one is more misguided than the other, "The one who likens Allah to creation worships an idol" means: he worships an existent, but he likens it to idols, and this is disbelief. "And the one who denies attributes worships non-existence"; that is: he is like the mu'tilah who deny the existence of Allah - Mighty and Majestic - , and the fullness of his words is: "The one who likens Allah to creation is one-eyed, and the one who denies attributes is blind," Ibn Taymiyyah summarizes this reality in these two words and details it in all his books; therefore, one should not listen to anyone who transmits from Ibn Taymiyyah what contradicts what is known from necessity from his books, and I say this word because the matter is as Imam al-Shafi'i said: "Allah refused to complete [the religion] except with His Book"; so there may be a word - for example - in some letters where the pen slipped, either from the author or from the copyist, and especially if the copyists multiplied afterwards, at that time we interpret the sentence in which something of ambiguity occurred by referring to the sources from which we took this summary, that Ibn Taymiyyah is one who affirms transcendence (munazzih) and not one who likens Allah to creation (mushabbih), and one who affirms the attributes and not one who denies them (mu'til).