What is the interpretation of His saying, the Exalted: “And We are closer to him than his jugular vein”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In a verse, it says: “And He is closer to you than the jugular vein.”
The Shaykh : Yes,.
The questioner : The verse means:[Qaf 50:16], “Indeed, Allah is near, responsive.” That is, when they call upon Him. There are many verses indicating that Allah is near to people, not as you might say, “He is far away.” Rather, Allah exists and is near, right?
The Shaykh : It has come in “Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim” that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a journey with his Companions. Whenever they ascended a high place—meaning a mountain—or descended into a valley, they would glorify Allah, say Allahu Akbar, and raise their voices. Then he (peace be upon him) said:. This is a word I wanted to clarify: mere faith in a general sense does not constitute saving faith. It must be faith in what came from Allah and His Messenger, without contradicting what came from Allah and His Messenger through circumlocution, which is a figurative interpretation of the words of Allah and the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him).
The questioner : The verses are ambiguous; the verses are ambiguous... We delve into them, and perhaps some people get misled.
The Shaykh : And they were indeed misled.
The questioner : ... A person does not want to admit to himself that his intellect is limited, and thus his attempt to imagine is what leads him to misguidance. If he believes that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is not like anything, he must not make comparisons.
The Shaykh : Not at all.
The questioner : ... So from there, one finds rest and gives rest. But the attempt to interpret matters... which are narrow for the sons of Adam... is what led him to misguidance. That is, right now in this room, there is a voice recorder... its cost is five pounds... the voice recorder, so this is evidence... of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He); so how can we imagine the Creator in His essence? It is not possible for us to visualize...
The Shaykh : The truth is that faith in Allah and His Messenger is the most rational, most knowledgeable, safest, and most digestible for a person, because it is the religion of fitrah (the innate natural disposition). As for Allah, He is not above, not below, not to the right, not to the left, and so on. Allah is Greater. They describe their Lord as non-existence!
Another questioner : ... We are looking for something that is not... For example, one asks about his religion, asks about the attributes of prayer, asks about the sunnahs of wudu (the ablution for prayer). We ask about our religion in the correct way; about all the things that are hidden from us. No one should be shy to ask about them, but...
Another questioner : My Shaykh, ... innovations, what is the difference between a worldly innovation and a life innovation? That is, in the past period, there was a lot of discussion on this topic; that people... in the Night Journey and Ascension.
...
The Shaykh : Yes,
And We are closer
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُThe questioner : The verse means:
and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِThe Shaykh : It has come in “Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim” that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a journey with his Companions. Whenever they ascended a high place—meaning a mountain—or descended into a valley, they would glorify Allah, say Allahu Akbar, and raise their voices. Then he (peace be upon him) said:
O people, restrain yourselves; indeed, the One you are calling is not deaf nor absent, but you are calling One who is Hearing and Seeing, indeed you are calling One who is closer to any one of you than the neck of his mount.
يا أيها الناس ، اربعوا على أنفسكم ؛ إنَّ مَن تدعونه ليس بأصمّ ولا غائب ، إنما تدعون سميعًا بصيرًا ، إنما تدعون مَن هو أقرب إلى أحدكم من عنق راحلته إليهThe questioner : The verses are ambiguous; the verses are ambiguous... We delve into them, and perhaps some people get misled.
The Shaykh : And they were indeed misled.
The questioner : ... A person does not want to admit to himself that his intellect is limited, and thus his attempt to imagine is what leads him to misguidance. If he believes that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is not like anything, he must not make comparisons.
The Shaykh : Not at all.
The questioner : ... So from there, one finds rest and gives rest. But the attempt to interpret matters... which are narrow for the sons of Adam... is what led him to misguidance. That is, right now in this room, there is a voice recorder... its cost is five pounds... the voice recorder, so this is evidence... of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He); so how can we imagine the Creator in His essence? It is not possible for us to visualize...
The Shaykh : The truth is that faith in Allah and His Messenger is the most rational, most knowledgeable, safest, and most digestible for a person, because it is the religion of fitrah (the innate natural disposition). As for Allah, He is not above, not below, not to the right, not to the left, and so on. Allah is Greater. They describe their Lord as non-existence!
Another questioner : ... We are looking for something that is not... For example, one asks about his religion, asks about the attributes of prayer, asks about the sunnahs of wudu (the ablution for prayer). We ask about our religion in the correct way; about all the things that are hidden from us. No one should be shy to ask about them, but...
Another questioner : My Shaykh, ... innovations, what is the difference between a worldly innovation and a life innovation? That is, in the past period, there was a lot of discussion on this topic; that people... in the Night Journey and Ascension.
...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.