We request clarification of the meaning of the attribute of elevation in light of the Book and the Sunnah, and the understanding of the righteous Salaf of it?
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The Shaykh : And the meaning of the attribute of elevation is that He encompasses everything, that He is above everything, and as one of the imams of the Salaf said—and I hope you memorize this sentence, for it actually gathers the meanings of verses and hadiths related to this topic—'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said—and he is one of the most distinguished shaykhs of Imam Ahmad, the Imam of the Sunnah—: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, distinct from His creation, and He is with them by His knowledge":
A refutation of those who claim the unity of existence, who say that Allah is the creator, one single thing like water and ice. Ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) says, summarizing those verses and hadiths: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne": The Most Merciful—in the Qur'an, all of you read it—:[Taha 20:5].
"Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above His Throne, distinct from His creation": meaning: He is not mixed with them, as the Sufis and the theologians of kalam say; that is, He is not above, not below, not to the right, not to the left, not in front, not behind, and so on with this nonsense that you have heard. So he affirms Allah as He affirmed Himself:[Taha 20:5].
"Distinct from His creation": meaning: He is self-sufficient regarding them, not mixed with them, but at the same time, no secret is hidden from Him on earth or in the heavens.
This belief is the belief of the Salaf, it is the belief of the scholars of hadith, it is the belief of the four jurists whom the majority of Muslims follow in Islamic jurisprudence; they are upon this belief. And one of the followers of the Hanafi school said in poetry:
"And the Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, but *** without the description of settling and connection"
A reference to the fact that Allah is rich in respect of the worlds:
"And the Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, but *** without the description of settling and connection"
And it is innate in the fitrah of all people that when they supplicate, they raise their hands to the sky and call upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Meanwhile, the theologians of kalam along with the extreme Sufis say: there is nothing there except what you see with your eye; so there is no Creator and no created being. And the words of the theologians of kalam that we mentioned earlier lead to the conclusion that there is no Creator above the created beings, but rather it is the mixed non-existence.
And I will now narrate to you the hadith containing the question of the Messenger and the answer of the slave girl, and the testimony of the Messenger that she is a believer, so that you may know the misguidance of the Sufis on one hand, and the theologians of kalam who deny the attribute of elevation to Allah, the Most High, the Most Elevated:
The hadith is among the authentic hadiths narrated by Imam Muslim in his *Sahih*, and there is no harm in concluding this session by mentioning the hadith as it came in *Sahih Muslim*, for it contains other benefits besides what we were aiming at earlier, which is affirming the attribute of elevation for Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Imam Muslim narrated in his *Sahih* from the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami—and he is, of course, not Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan the Umayyad, known for his rule after the Rightly Guided Caliphs—Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami said:, the hadith has a continuation which I will mention after a word commenting on what preceded:
This man, as you heard, spoke during the prayer, and even raised his voice to its highest pitch. Here you see that if this incident happened today in one of the mosques, by some of those who recently embraced Islam, or by some of the Bedouins or nomads who are mostly ignorant of Islam, you would find the position of the imam different from the position of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) toward this Mu'awiyah. And what I imagine is that Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), when he heard the Companions striking their thighs to silence him while they were in prayer, as if he realized that he had committed a grave error. And therefore, Allah knows best what went through his mind when he described to us the gentleness of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with what preceded of his words, he said:Sahih Muslim 619a: What do you think he will do with him? Will he curse him? Will he insult him? Will he hit him? None of that happened. He said: .
A refutation of those who claim the unity of existence, who say that Allah is the creator, one single thing like water and ice. Ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) says, summarizing those verses and hadiths: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne": The Most Merciful—in the Qur'an, all of you read it—:
The Most Merciful [who is] above the Throne established.
الرحمن على العرش استوى"Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above His Throne, distinct from His creation": meaning: He is not mixed with them, as the Sufis and the theologians of kalam say; that is, He is not above, not below, not to the right, not to the left, not in front, not behind, and so on with this nonsense that you have heard. So he affirms Allah as He affirmed Himself:
The Most Merciful [who is] above the Throne established.
الرحمن على العرش استوى"Distinct from His creation": meaning: He is self-sufficient regarding them, not mixed with them, but at the same time, no secret is hidden from Him on earth or in the heavens.
This belief is the belief of the Salaf, it is the belief of the scholars of hadith, it is the belief of the four jurists whom the majority of Muslims follow in Islamic jurisprudence; they are upon this belief. And one of the followers of the Hanafi school said in poetry:
"And the Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, but *** without the description of settling and connection"
A reference to the fact that Allah is rich in respect of the worlds:
"And the Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, but *** without the description of settling and connection"
And it is innate in the fitrah of all people that when they supplicate, they raise their hands to the sky and call upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Meanwhile, the theologians of kalam along with the extreme Sufis say: there is nothing there except what you see with your eye; so there is no Creator and no created being. And the words of the theologians of kalam that we mentioned earlier lead to the conclusion that there is no Creator above the created beings, but rather it is the mixed non-existence.
And I will now narrate to you the hadith containing the question of the Messenger and the answer of the slave girl, and the testimony of the Messenger that she is a believer, so that you may know the misguidance of the Sufis on one hand, and the theologians of kalam who deny the attribute of elevation to Allah, the Most High, the Most Elevated:
The hadith is among the authentic hadiths narrated by Imam Muslim in his *Sahih*, and there is no harm in concluding this session by mentioning the hadith as it came in *Sahih Muslim*, for it contains other benefits besides what we were aiming at earlier, which is affirming the attribute of elevation for Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Imam Muslim narrated in his *Sahih* from the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami—and he is, of course, not Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan the Umayyad, known for his rule after the Rightly Guided Caliphs—Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami said:
I prayed one day behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and a man next to me sneezed, so I said to him: May Allah have mercy on you—and he was praying—so they looked at me, and I said while he was praying: Woe to your mother, what is wrong with you that you are looking at me? So they struck their thighs to silence him. He said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me, and by Allah, he did not humiliate me, nor did he dominate me, nor did he hit me, nor did he insult me, but he only said to me: Indeed, in this prayer, nothing of the speech of people is appropriate; it is only glorification, magnification, and praise.
صليت يومًا وراء النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم فعطسَ رجلٌ بجانبي، فقلت له: يرحمك الله -وهو يصلي- فنظروا إليَّ، فقلت وهو يصلي: واثُكل أمياه مالكم تنظرون إليّ؟ فضربوا على أفخاذهم مسكّتين له، قال: فلما قضى رسولُ الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم الصلاة أقبلَ إليَّ فوالله ما قَهَرني ولا كَهَرني ولا ضربني ولا شتمني، وإنما قال لي: إنَّ هذه الصلاة لا يصلح فيها شيءٌ من كلام الناس إنما هي تسبيح وتكبير وتحميدThis man, as you heard, spoke during the prayer, and even raised his voice to its highest pitch. Here you see that if this incident happened today in one of the mosques, by some of those who recently embraced Islam, or by some of the Bedouins or nomads who are mostly ignorant of Islam, you would find the position of the imam different from the position of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) toward this Mu'awiyah. And what I imagine is that Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), when he heard the Companions striking their thighs to silence him while they were in prayer, as if he realized that he had committed a grave error. And therefore, Allah knows best what went through his mind when he described to us the gentleness of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with what preceded of his words, he said: