The Misguidance of the People of Theology in Using Figurative Interpretation to Deny the Attributes of Allah the Exalted

The Shaykh : I said that this point is a verbal disagreement, but unfortunately, it later became a very substantial disagreement; because the scholars of theology, especially the Mu'tazilah among them, used this terminology to deny many of the verses and hadiths regarding the attributes in the name of figurative interpretation.
The student: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. They used this to deny many of the texts of the Shari'ah, particularly those related to the unseen matters, and more specifically those related to the divine attributes. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) affirmed for Himself in the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah many of the attributes. For example, He says: This is the Day of Resurrection. Here, those who advocate for figurative interpretation and expand upon it say that it is not correct to interpret "Your Lord has come" as meaning Allah; rather, a deleted implied addition must be assumed. They are asked: why this assumption? You established a rule that it is not permissible to move from the literal meaning to the figurative meaning unless the literal meaning is impossible. And here, the coming of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) is...
The student: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : Upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Please proceed... They resorted to this, and our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) described Himself in this verse with the attribute of coming. The people of figurative interpretation said that this attribute has no reality, but is merely figurative. The people of the Sunnah asked them: why did you leave the literal meaning when it is possible? When our Lord described Himself with the attribute of coming, it is an attribute of action, like other attributes of action or essential attributes. For example, the verse of negation and affirmation: It is not permissible for us to interpret His saying "The All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" in the name of figurative interpretation. This is what a section of the scholars of theology, namely the Mu'tazilah, said. They interpreted "The All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" as knowledge, and these people were described as those who deny the attributes, meaning they stripped the texts of the Book of their apparent meanings. Why do they say: meaning knowledge? Allah described Himself in more than one verse as being All-Knowing of everything... Here He described Himself with two other attributes, namely that He is All-Hearing and All-Seeing. If these two attributes are interpreted as the attribute of knowledge, it is as if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) did not describe Himself as All-Hearing and All-Seeing. Why did they proceed to this? Because they said that a human is described as hearing and seeing, so if we say that Allah is Hearing and Seeing, we would be likening our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) to the hearing and seeing human. In the Noble Qur'an, you remember: Then what does it say? Therefore, they said and claimed that we do not say that Allah is All-Hearing and All-Seeing. Glory be to Allah! If a person had invented this on his own and attributed these two attributes to Allah, we would have said to him: we do not accept your statement, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not described except by what He has described Himself with. Here our Lord has described Himself with these two attributes, so how dare you say that we do not describe our Lord as All-Hearing and All-Seeing.