The Obligation of Silence and Submission Regarding Matters of the Unseen
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His Eminence the Shaykh: How do we respond to one who asks and says: How does Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) descend in the last third of the night, when the time varies between the east and the west of the earth? For example, if it is late morning in the east, it is night in the west?
We respond to them with a very useful rule,All matters of the unseen, do not say: (How); because your mind is too low to comprehend its how,Matters of the unseen, do not say in them: (How), whether it pertains to Allah or to the conditions of the Hereafter, a human being cannot grasp this. Now, you have heard, or some of you have heard, that on the Day of Resurrection the sun will approach the creatures by the distance of a mile. The mile is either the length of a kohl stick or a distance. Let us take the furthest of the two possibilities, which is the distance. If this sun were to descend upon us now by the length of a hair from its current position, it would burn the earth. Yet it descends above the heads by the distance of a mile, and yet the people do not burn.
The sweat; some people’s sweat reaches their ankles, some reaches their knees, some reaches their waists, and some are restrained by sweat, and they are in the same place,Do we say: How? The Lord (Mighty and Majestic) is above His Throne and descends to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, He says: (Who calls upon Me, I will respond to him; who asks Me, I will give him; who seeks My forgiveness, I will forgive him) Do we say: How does He descend?Do we say: When He descends, does He leave the Throne empty or not?Do we say: How does He descend at night when the last third of the night is still a circle on the earth?We say: You are in your place; as long as you are in the last third of the night, this is the time of descent for you. When the dawn breaks, the time of descent ends for you, and the time of descent becomes for those who were to your west, and so on.
And I say to you, O brothers: Regarding matters of the unseen, do not say: (How); because our minds do not grasp this thing, and our senses do not grasp this thing,So as long as the mind and the sense do not grasp it, how do we say: (How)?! When a man came to Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) and said: O Abu 'Abdullah [Ta-Ha:5] How did He establish Himself? What did Imam Malik say? He lowered his head in awe of this question until sweat covered him, he began to pour out sweat, then he said: O this one! The establishing is not unknown, and the how is not comprehensible, and belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation.
Look, Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) counted his question (How did He establish Himself) as an innovation,If you say: How does He descend to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and the last third of the night is successive on the earth?We say: This is an innovation, you know! Take this rule with you, my brother! (Everything from the matters of the unseen, do not say in it: How! Because the matter is wider than your mind or your senses can grasp).
We respond to them with a very useful rule,All matters of the unseen, do not say: (How); because your mind is too low to comprehend its how,Matters of the unseen, do not say in them: (How), whether it pertains to Allah or to the conditions of the Hereafter, a human being cannot grasp this. Now, you have heard, or some of you have heard, that on the Day of Resurrection the sun will approach the creatures by the distance of a mile. The mile is either the length of a kohl stick or a distance. Let us take the furthest of the two possibilities, which is the distance. If this sun were to descend upon us now by the length of a hair from its current position, it would burn the earth. Yet it descends above the heads by the distance of a mile, and yet the people do not burn.
The sweat; some people’s sweat reaches their ankles, some reaches their knees, some reaches their waists, and some are restrained by sweat, and they are in the same place,Do we say: How? The Lord (Mighty and Majestic) is above His Throne and descends to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, He says: (Who calls upon Me, I will respond to him; who asks Me, I will give him; who seeks My forgiveness, I will forgive him) Do we say: How does He descend?Do we say: When He descends, does He leave the Throne empty or not?Do we say: How does He descend at night when the last third of the night is still a circle on the earth?We say: You are in your place; as long as you are in the last third of the night, this is the time of descent for you. When the dawn breaks, the time of descent ends for you, and the time of descent becomes for those who were to your west, and so on.
And I say to you, O brothers: Regarding matters of the unseen, do not say: (How); because our minds do not grasp this thing, and our senses do not grasp this thing,So as long as the mind and the sense do not grasp it, how do we say: (How)?! When a man came to Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) and said: O Abu 'Abdullah
The Most Merciful [who is] above the Throne established.
الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَىLook, Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) counted his question (How did He establish Himself) as an innovation,If you say: How does He descend to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and the last third of the night is successive on the earth?We say: This is an innovation, you know! Take this rule with you, my brother! (Everything from the matters of the unseen, do not say in it: How! Because the matter is wider than your mind or your senses can grasp).