Discussion of the attribute of elevation and rising above the Throne for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the refutation of those who interpret these attributes from among the people of innovation and desires.
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The Shaykh : And there are hadiths that also confirm this meaning of affirming the absolute elevation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The clearest thing that refutes this invalid interpretation is the hadith in Muslim’s *Sahih*, which is what came... in a long hadith that is not our concern now. He said to her: . She said: In the sky. He said to her: . She said: You are the Messenger of Allah. He said: . This is the testimony that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) bore for the girl, who explicitly stated that Allah is in the sky. The scholars of *kalam* and interpretation rejected this explicit statement, and this rejection and refusal led them to interpret the verses of Allah and the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in a manner other than their intended meaning.
... Indeed, these people who interpret these noble verses, and who were ultimately forced to say that Allah is neither above nor below, and so on, say this only because they imagine that if we affirm the attribute of being above for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), we have confined Him to a place. This is a pure illusion, and it stems from the kind of... it stems from analogizing the Lord of the worlds to one of His creations, and that what is above Him... one must imagine it only in a place. So they assumed that if we say Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in the sky, He is on the Throne, having risen above it according to the apparent meaning of His words (Blessed and Exalted is He), that we have made Him like we made the shaykh on his chair or the king on his throne. If the chair were pulled from under the shaykh or the throne from under the king, each of them would fall on his head. They imagined all of this regarding the Lord of the worlds... Who is free from need of all the worlds... It is that they imagined that what is above the creation is a place, whereas the truth is that there is no place above the creation. And as I told one of the shaykhs of al-Azhar about two years ago, while we were in Mina.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes, I know, but I wanted to point out...
Where is Allah?
أين الله ؟Who am I?
مَن أنا ؟Set her free; for she is a believer
أعتِقْها ؛ فإنها مؤمنة... Indeed, these people who interpret these noble verses, and who were ultimately forced to say that Allah is neither above nor below, and so on, say this only because they imagine that if we affirm the attribute of being above for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), we have confined Him to a place. This is a pure illusion, and it stems from the kind of... it stems from analogizing the Lord of the worlds to one of His creations, and that what is above Him... one must imagine it only in a place. So they assumed that if we say Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in the sky, He is on the Throne, having risen above it according to the apparent meaning of His words (Blessed and Exalted is He), that we have made Him like we made the shaykh on his chair or the king on his throne. If the chair were pulled from under the shaykh or the throne from under the king, each of them would fall on his head. They imagined all of this regarding the Lord of the worlds... Who is free from need of all the worlds... It is that they imagined that what is above the creation is a place, whereas the truth is that there is no place above the creation. And as I told one of the shaykhs of al-Azhar about two years ago, while we were in Mina.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes, I know, but I wanted to point out...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.