Explanation of the hadith of Mu'awiyah al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding the story of the slave girl whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: (Where is Allah?)

The Shaykh : Finally: We narrate the following hadith to affirm this creed; that is, the creed of the rising of the Lord above His Throne and His exaltation over all His creation on the one hand, and as evidence to refute the figurative interpretation (ta'wil) which leads to the denial of divine realities. Imam Muslim narrates in his Sahih from Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) that he prayed one day behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so a man next to him sneezed, and he said to him: May Allah have mercy on you. Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami said to the man who sneezed next to him: May Allah have mercy on you; as if he was outside of prayer and did not know that this is speech and it is not permissible for the one praying to speak. So the one who was on his side looked at him with a look of silencing him, but he became more agitated than before and said: O that my mother be bereaved! Why are you looking at me?! The poor man, due to his distance from knowledge, did not realize his mistake, and that he spoke in prayer, and that speech invalidates it even if it is just the word: May Allah have mercy on you, O sneezer. So the Companions did nothing but strike their thighs to silence him.
Mu'awiyah says: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me. Imagine the state of mind of this person who, after a while, realized that he had made a mistake, and the Messenger is coming to him; what does he imagine he will do with him? He expects to be rebuked, he expects to be called ignorant; O ignorant one; like our shaykhs do, except for a few of them, meaning; if a person commits a grave sin, a person almost wishes that the earth would swallow him because of the severity of their rebuke. Perhaps Mu'awiyah imagined that the Messenger (peace be upon him), who is coming to him, would now point out his mistake and rebuke him. Mu'awiyah 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 strike me, nor did he overpower me, nor did he insult me, but he only said to me: .
When Mu'awiyah saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with this gentle and soft character, it was as if he returned to himself and held himself accountable, realizing that he was ignorant, so he had to learn; therefore, he began to throw question after question at the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), saying: O Messenger of Allah, some of us come to the fortune-tellers (meaning the astrologers and diviners)? He said: . He said: O Messenger of Allah, some of us take omens (they consider things unlucky)? He said: . Meaning, if one of you takes an omen, he does not respond to it, he continues on his way, and these are of course quick words that need explanation, perhaps on another occasion - if Allah wills - we will explain them. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, some of us draw lines (meaning drawing in the sand). He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . He said: O Messenger of Allah. This is also a phrase that needs explanation later. He said: "O Messenger of Allah - and here is the point - I have a slave girl who tends my sheep in al-Uhd, so one day a wolf attacked my sheep, and when she informed me, and I am a human being; I got angry as humans get angry, so I struck her a blow. Meaning he regretted what he did, so he said: And upon me is the freeing of a slave. As if he is asking the Prophet if it suffices for me to free this slave girl as expiation for my injustice to her because of ... her and my striking her with that blow. He (peace be upon him) said: . When she came, the Messenger (peace be upon him) asked her: . She said: In the sky. He said to her: . She said: . He said to her master: .
This hadith is in "Sahih Muslim," so take heed, O those who have insight. Despite it being in "Sahih Muslim," many shaykhs today deny the authenticity of this hadith in terms of its chain of narration, and its chain is one of the most authentic chains. Some do not ... deny it; because the chain is authentic; what do they say? They say: The Messenger considered the culture of the slave girl, the slave girl is a Bedouin, so he accommodated her in her concepts, she means Allah is in the sky, meaning that it is not the idols present on earth that created the creatures, but other than the idols, Allah, meaning they say that the Messenger (peace be upon him), when she said: He is in the sky, she did not mean above, but she meant merely affirming that this universe has a Creator, and it is not the idols that the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) worshipped. We say to them: First: The Messenger of Allah does not approve of falsehood, even if it is a slave girl, even if she is a Bedouin. Is it obligatory for the Messenger (peace be upon him) to teach the one who is learning or to teach the ignorant one? If you assume that this slave girl is ignorant, and she speaks falsehood in your opinion, they do not say: Allah is in the sky. When they see this answer from the slave girl, they say: The slave girl is mistaken in this.
Well; how is she mistaken and the Messenger approved of her? Yes; he approved of her because she intended an absolute meaning devoid of affirming that Allah has the attribute of elevation. So we say to them: The slave girl, in reality, it seems to me from behind these long centuries that she is more knowledgeable than these scholars for two reasons; that she first affirmed what Allah affirmed in His Book; where He said: ; so the slave girl means she is cultured with the culture of the Qur'an, so she affirmed and testified to what the Qur'an testified to; so how can you say that she was mistaken in her saying: Allah is in the sky? This is first. Second: Do you believe that the Messenger (peace be upon him) approves of falsehood? They say: No. So how did he approve of this slave girl on this statement that you deny? The slave girl says: Allah is in the sky, and you say: Allah is not in the sky; so how did the Messenger (peace be upon him) stand towards this slave girl in the position of approving the falsehood that you believe is false? This is your faith in the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) who does not speak from desire, it is only a revelation that is revealed.
This hadith is in "Sahih Muslim," so the people today who deny the elevation of Allah above His creation are either those who deny it despite its authenticity, or those who approve that the slave girl was mistaken and the Messenger accommodated her in her speech; because she intended only to affirm that Allah is the Creator. This is from the ill effects of the figurative interpretation (ta'wil), the truth is that one who studies the topic of ta'wil finds for it dangers that are almost endless; from denying verses, and denying authentic hadiths; either if the text is a verse, then by ta'wil, and if the text is a hadith, either by the way of denial as is the case with this hadith, or by the way of ta'wil as some do.