The Refutation of Some of the People of Figurative Interpretation Regarding Their Interpretation of Some of the Attributes of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He -

The Shaykh : And from here we move to what I mentioned earlier, which is that this research has a connection to creed. There are verses in the Noble Book and hadiths in the authentic Sunnah where phrases and expressions are such that many of the later generations turn away from interpreting them according to their apparent meaning, following a path similar to this path of figurative interpretation, and by assuming a deleted possessive. For example: to the end of the hadith, and as He - Mighty and Majestic - said in the Noble Qur'an: , so the scholars have two positions here:
The first position: which is the correct position, is to interpret these texts from the Book and the Sunnah concerning the attributes of Allah - Mighty and Majestic - according to their apparent meaning without figurative interpretation, meaning: your Lord.
The second position: which is certainly an error because it contradicts the methodology of the Salaf, ; meaning: the armies of your Lord - for example -, or the punishment of your Lord, or similar assumptions of deleted possessives. Likewise, these later generations interpreted the previously mentioned hadith and its like contrary to the school of the Salaf, ; so they said: Allah did not descend, but rather Allah descends; meaning: His mercy. So they also assumed a deleted possessive here. What I want to say now, with some brevity and conciseness, is that although assuming a deleted possessive is known in the Arabic language, and this is a clear example before you: "He saw hunger in the faces of his companions"; we said: "He saw the effect of hunger." Likewise in the Qur'an: , also the people of the village, so here there is a deleted possessive.
So I say: Even if this is known in the Arabic language, it is necessary to establish a criterion and a rule for when it is permissible to assume a deleted possessive and when it is not permissible, otherwise the matter becomes chaos. In reality, this rule was established by the scholars of language, not only by the scholars of the Salaf, but the difference is that those who established this rule from the later generations did not adhere to it in practice and knowledge. The scientific linguistic rule says: The original state of every expression is the literal meaning, not the figurative, unless the literal meaning is impossible; so at that time, the impossibility of the literal meaning - meaning: the inability to interpret the Arabic sentence according to its truth and its apparent meaning - is a proof that turns to interpreting the expression figuratively. They mentioned this, and this is the criterion and the rule as we indicated, but they did not adhere to it except those who followed the methodology of the Salaf. And here we are now with some examples concerning Allah - Mighty and Majestic - and His attributes; so they interpreted as "the punishment of your Lord came" - for example -, they interpreted: so they said: His power, and much, much more like that.
And the previous hadith: meaning His mercy. What compelled these people? What is the compelling evidence that turns away from interpreting these texts according to the literal meaning? Nothing except that their minds were too narrow to believe in one of the attributes of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -. This Allah who is not seen and not felt, but is only known; likewise, regarding His attributes, what is said about the Essence is said about them. We do not know Allah except from His signs and His effects. So if Allah - Mighty and Majestic - says about Himself: and connects ; why do we say: "The punishment of your Lord came" or "the armies of your Lord"? We want to say: Allah does not come; why? Because they imagine that when Allah says about Himself "He comes," He comes on two legs, for example!! He comes tired, panting, and similar attributes that pertain to humans. But Allah - Mighty and Majestic - so that such a false meaning does not come to anyone's mind, He interpreted the true sentence for that reason, saying: , is a negation of likeness, is an affirmation of two of the attributes of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -; so does it come to a person's mind when he reads: that His hearing is like our hearing? No, and is that His sight is like our sight? No, likewise, regarding all the attributes of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -, it is said: لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ There is nothing like unto Him[Ash-Shuraa 42:11] and He is the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the Wise, but in His knowledge and in His wisdom and in all His attributes, He does not resemble any of His creations, Glorified and Exalted is He above that.
Likewise, when He described Himself as "He came," why do we imagine that His coming is like the coming of created, weak humans? So let us say: He comes in a way that He knows the truth of His Self. We do not know the truth of His Essence so that we may know the truth of His attributes. Likewise, ينزل الله Allah descends these later generations, by virtue of being human, cannot grasp the truth of the descent of Allah, and every human is likewise; so is this an excuse for interpreting the descent? The answer is: No; because if it is permissible to interpret one of the attributes of Allah due to the inability of humans to grasp its truth, this leads to the absolute denial of the existence of Allah - Mighty and Majestic -; because it leads to the denial of all attributes; so Allah - for example - is Alive, and I am alive; so do we deny the life of Allah to the point that it is said that His life is like our life?! We do not say that His life is like our life, nor that our life is like His life, but His life is not like our life; so His coming is not like our coming, and His descent is not like our descent; because His Essence is not like our essences, and the problem is solved; therefore, this assumption that the people of figurative interpretation resort to has no motive for them except the imagination of likening, so they fled from likening and fell into denial of the divine attributes.
Therefore, I hope that every Muslim will memorize this rule from the linguistic aspect and from the legal aspect. From the linguistic aspect, it is not permissible to interpret an expression other than its apparent meaning by assuming a deleted possessive except for a compelling necessity; for example, a person says: "The prince came"; so is it correct for the listener to understand the expression: "The servant of the prince came"; meaning by assuming a deleted possessive? This is denying the means of understanding between people, which is language. The speaker said: "The prince came," and the listener understood that he meant: "The servant of the prince came." Where did this come from? He said "The prince came" and was silent, so you say: He meant "The servant of the prince came"; this is denial.
This is if the speaker is a human like us; so what about when the speaker is our Lord and Creator - Glorified and Exalted is He - who says about Himself - and we know nothing about Him absolutely except what He informed us about Himself - says: جَاءَ رَبُّكَ Your Lord came?! We say: Our Lord came, our Lord comes, but how? No how. ينزل الله Allah descends He descends in reality, a descent befitting His Majesty, His Perfection, and His Greatness, but we do not deny or interpret figuratively.
They say: O my brother, assuming the possessive is known in the Arabic language. We say: Yes, but there must be a compelling necessity; what is the compelling necessity? Either it is verbal, mentioned in the context or the preceding text, or it is a necessary intellectual necessity, for example, the previous verse: وَاسْأَلِ الْقَرْيَةَ And ask the town every person of intellect and understanding knows that the village is not asked, and the Arabs when they spoke in this language spoke in sentences whose apparent meaning is figurative, but they are the truth itself.
And this is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah - may Allah have mercy on him - uniquely detailed in his speech, until it was said about him that he denies the existence of figurative language in the Arabic language, but the truth is that he denies this figurative language that the deniers or the people of figurative interpretation follow without proof. So he brings an example or the known Arabic sentence: "The gutter flowed," which scholars mention as an example of figurative language, and it proceeded in a similar manner. Ibn Taymiyyah says: This is a construction whose apparent meaning is figurative, but this sentence which they call figurative gives the meaning that nothing else comes to mind. "The gutter flowed," does any Arab understand "it melted"? Melted from intense heat, for example, the gutter, or what comes to the minds of all Arabs is "The gutter flowed," the water of the gutter flowed?
So, these phrases from which the meaning suggests that this omitted modifier is originally what the sentence was built upon, in this order and with this meaning. However, when you say, "The prince came," it is possible that there is an omitted modifier, because the servant might come, or the prince might come. In this case, the phrase remains on its apparent meaning and is not interpreted figuratively unless there is a context that necessitates it. As for "the gutter flowed," it cannot be understood that the gutter itself flowed. The river ran, and the river is the trench; it does not mean that the earth of this trench flowed, but rather that the water of the river flowed.
So, contrasting these expressions, which were used with the definite intent of a figurative meaning, with expressions whose apparent meaning is that their literal meaning is intended, such as "So-and-so came" and "So-and-so went," where So-and-so himself is the intended referent of the expression. From this, Ibn Taymiyyah said: It is not permissible to interpret the verses of attributes and the hadiths of attributes by assuming an omitted modifier. Because these verses and these hadiths, at the time they speak about Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when the interpreters interpreted these verses and hadiths, they became speaking about other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So if Allah says of Himself: "He came," and it is interpreted as "the angel came" or "the punishment came" or "the mercy came" or the like, the speech becomes about other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And resulting from that are very clear and obvious problems. I will limit myself now to one example in the previous hadith, ينزل الله - تبارك وتعالى - Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, descendsSahih Muslim 758c to the end of the hadith; they interpreted the descent as the descent of mercy, so the objection to them came in the full hadith, saying: أَلَا فهل من داعٍ فأستجيب له ؟! ألا هل من سائلٍ فأعطيه ؟! ألا هل من مستغفرٍ فأغفر له ؟! Is there no one who calls upon Me that I may answer him? Is there no one who asks Me that I may give him? Is there no one who seeks My forgiveness that I may forgive him?, Who says: "I am such and such, I am such and such" until the dawn breaks? Mercy?! The meaning is corrupted. All of this is among the harms of interpreting the sacred texts due to the inability of human minds to understand the reality of the meaning if the texts are left on their apparent meaning. We are never obligated to understand the realities of the divine attributes, because it is impossible for us to be able to do so. From where do we have these minds to perceive the reality of the attributes? Have we perceived the reality of the Essence?
We, as some scholars say, our own essence, which is with us and we live in it, we have not perceived it, nor have we perceived the realities within it, such as the soul, for example. So how can we perceive Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and perceive His attributes (Blessed and Exalted is He)?! This is an impossible matter. So there is nothing but pure faith, free from all philosophy on one hand and rationalization, or faith without interpretation, denial of the divine attributes, likening Allah to creation, or comparing Allah to creation.
And how excellent is what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said! Then I found this word from his Shaykh, Ibn Taymiyyah: "The one who denies the attributes worships non-existence, and the one who ascribes a body to Allah worships an idol." Therefore, interpretation is not permissible because it leads to denial of the divine attributes, just as asking how an attribute is is not permissible because it leads to comparing Allah to creation. All of this is contrary to the Noble Qur'an, and specifically to the previous verse: لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.[Ash-Shuraa 42:11].
So here in this hadith, we say: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) looked at the hunger. We said: the effect of hunger; because hunger is not seen. So this was a context that necessitated that the speaker, being an Arab, meant the effect of hunger on the faces of his Companions. So he (peace be upon him) said: أبشِرُوا ، فإنَّه سيأتي عليكُم زَمانٌ يُغدَى على أحدِكم بالقَصعَةِ مِنَ الثَّريدِ ويُراحُ عليه بِمثلِها Rejoice, for a time will come to you in which one of you will be served a dish of bread for breakfast and another like it for dinner; meaning lunch and dinner. The Messenger (peace be upon him) reminds them that Allah will expand their provision, and that they will not remain in this narrowness and hardship of material life. Good things will come to them due to the Islamic conquests, and they will be served lunch from a large vessel containing meat broth, and they will be served dinner as well. When they heard this material good news from the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him), they hastened to ask, and this indicates the jurisprudence of the Companions and their lack of inclination toward the world at the expense of the Hereafter. They said: "O Messenger of Allah, are we better off then?" "Better" here is not a name, but a superlative; meaning, is our condition then better, or is it now? He said: لا No.. He said: بل أنتم اليوم خيرٌ منكم يومئذ No, today you are better than you will be on that day.Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2476Da'if (Darussalam); why?
It appears that the nature of this world does not exclude expansion in it with mindfulness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So it is not possible for a person to balance the two scales in terms of expansion in the world and expansion in the Hereafter. So moderation between, or balancing between, the matters of the world and the Hereafter appears to be an impossible matter. So whenever the Muslim inclines in his obedience and worship and increasing in it for the sake of the Hereafter, his inclination and its fruit also decrease in what he achieves of material earnings. So the opposite is the opposite; it is not possible to balance the two scales completely. And this hadith is among what indicates that to us.
And other hadiths will come... So here, when the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) gave them good news that they should not despair now, that they are living in a life of hardship and hunger where they do not find the necessary sustenance, a time will soon come when good will come to them more than necessary... And as is the reality for many Muslims today, where they cook more than the need, and they are forced in the end, after a day or two, and perhaps when the food has spoiled, the soul is disgusted from eating what it ate a day or two ago, so the fate of this food is being thrown to the ground! This is extravagance, and extravagance is wasting money, which is also something the Shari'ah has forbidden in the Book and the Sunnah. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) told them that this situation they are living in will disappear, and a near time will come when the large vessels will come to them morning and evening with meat broth. So they said: "Let us see, in this state we are in now, in terms of the Hereafter aspect, which they were in the best state, and in the worldly aspect, which they were in the worst state, are we now better, or then, the day the large vessels come to them with meat broth?" He said: لا بل أنتم اليوم خيرٌ من يومئذ No, rather you are today better than at that time.
This is the Sunnah of Allah in His creation; and therefore you will not find a person who inclined toward the world, even through lawful means, let alone through unlawful means, except that he has fallen short in his religion, much or little. So we take from this hadith a lesson that if the Muslim finds something of hardship in his life, he should not despair for himself or be sad. And let him remember that if he endures this life or this hardship of living and is satisfied with the divine decree and destiny, he is better than those for whom something of hardship in living was decreed, better than them.
With this hadith in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) says to the Companions: You yourselves, on the day the world comes to you and is expanded for you, you will not be as you are today. You today are better than that day.
The hadith after it has a pause for me, meaning, in the previous terminology, a blank that we were not able to verify.