Describing Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) with silence?
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Your Eminence,It came in the hadith: (And He was silent about certain things out of mercy for you) So is Allah described with silence?
Who said this statement?The questioner: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it.
The Shaykh: The hadith is from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So if the Messenger said: (And He was silent about certain things) So is it possible for someone to ask: Is it permissible for us to say: Allah is silent? It is not permissible, my brother.
The questioner: So He is not described with silence.
The Shaykh: He is described.
The questioner: He is described, O Shaykh?The Shaykh: Yes, according to its apparent meaning, (He was silent about certain things -Meaning: He did not forbid them - out of mercy for you), and certainly, if He was silent about certain things He did not forbid, it means He did not speak about them. However, silence, in its linguistic sense, is used for the absence of speech, and it is used for the absence of making speech heard. And among this is the statement of Abu Hurayrah to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (What do you say during your silence between the takbir and the recitation?) So the Messenger was described with silence, even though he asked: What do you say? So silence, in the Arabic language, is used for both of these.
As for Allah, if He is silent, it means: He speaks about whom? If He was silent about certain things He did not forbid, then He is silent about them.
And by the way, I wish my brothers, the students of knowledge, would not delve deeply into what concerns the attributes. They should take the hadiths and the Qur'an at their apparent meaning and not ask; because what concerns the attribute of Allah is part of the religion of Allah. So if the Companions did not ask about them, then what sufficed them should suffice us. For this reason, Imam Malik said to the one who asked about istiwa' (rising above the Throne),And he said: How did He rise?He said to him: I do not see you as anything but an innovator,And he said: Asking about this is an innovation.
The questioner: Is the hadith established?The Shaykh: If it is established.
And al-Nawawi mentioned it in the Nawawi Forty.
The questioner: Is it not disputed?The Shaykh: It is disputed; but when I establish it, that is sufficient.
And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Who said this statement?The questioner: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it.
The Shaykh: The hadith is from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So if the Messenger said: (And He was silent about certain things) So is it possible for someone to ask: Is it permissible for us to say: Allah is silent? It is not permissible, my brother.
The questioner: So He is not described with silence.
The Shaykh: He is described.
The questioner: He is described, O Shaykh?The Shaykh: Yes, according to its apparent meaning, (He was silent about certain things -Meaning: He did not forbid them - out of mercy for you), and certainly, if He was silent about certain things He did not forbid, it means He did not speak about them. However, silence, in its linguistic sense, is used for the absence of speech, and it is used for the absence of making speech heard. And among this is the statement of Abu Hurayrah to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (What do you say during your silence between the takbir and the recitation?) So the Messenger was described with silence, even though he asked: What do you say? So silence, in the Arabic language, is used for both of these.
As for Allah, if He is silent, it means: He speaks about whom? If He was silent about certain things He did not forbid, then He is silent about them.
And by the way, I wish my brothers, the students of knowledge, would not delve deeply into what concerns the attributes. They should take the hadiths and the Qur'an at their apparent meaning and not ask; because what concerns the attribute of Allah is part of the religion of Allah. So if the Companions did not ask about them, then what sufficed them should suffice us. For this reason, Imam Malik said to the one who asked about istiwa' (rising above the Throne),And he said: How did He rise?He said to him: I do not see you as anything but an innovator,And he said: Asking about this is an innovation.
The questioner: Is the hadith established?The Shaykh: If it is established.
And al-Nawawi mentioned it in the Nawawi Forty.
The questioner: Is it not disputed?The Shaykh: It is disputed; but when I establish it, that is sufficient.
And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.