Some people’s claim that the words “above” and “below” should not be used in matters of creed
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, a man named Waqfah bin Hammam says that the sky rests upon the earth, which is spherical, and that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Therefore, he says we should not use the words “above” and “below” in matters of creed. This is what he intended, Honorable Shaykh.
Answer:
This is misguidance, may Allah protect us from it. We say the words “above” and “below.” What is beneath us is lower, and what is above us is higher. This applies to all sides of the earth, to all sides of the earth from all directions. What is beneath people is lower, and what is above people is higher. We say this.
Honorable Shaykh, a man named Waqfah bin Hammam says that the sky rests upon the earth, which is spherical, and that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Therefore, he says we should not use the words “above” and “below” in matters of creed. This is what he intended, Honorable Shaykh.
Answer:
This is misguidance, may Allah protect us from it. We say the words “above” and “below.” What is beneath us is lower, and what is above us is higher. This applies to all sides of the earth, to all sides of the earth from all directions. What is beneath people is lower, and what is above people is higher. We say this.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 9من13/شرح لمعة الاعتقاد/عقيدة/بداية الدرس فضل الايمان/الشيخ صالح الفوزان/مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:07:37)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.