Is it permissible to deny Allah the attribute of movement?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Is it part of the doctrine of transcendence regarding the attribute of coming that we deny Allah the attribute of movement?

The Shaykh : This is a good question. We do not describe Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except with what He has described Himself with; that is the first point. The second point: movement is an attribute of the created being; it is in one place and moves to another. If we truly believe that there is nothing like Him, we will not describe our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) with something we know from ourselves.
The student : Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace... a karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) like the karamah we read in the books of some of the Sufis...
The student : If it must be, then you are more deserving of it...

The questioner : Some scholars say that if the verbal Sunnah conflicts...

The Shaykh : I thought you would return to the previous question because I want to complete the answer to it. We have reached the point in our answer where we said that it is not permissible for us, Muslims, to describe the Lord of the Worlds with an attribute that He has not described Himself with. The question was specifically about this, and this is what some of the Khalaf (the later generations) are accused of when they affirm for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) what He has affirmed for Himself, such as the attribute of coming, as we mentioned earlier, and the attribute of divine descent, as mentioned in the mutawatir (mass-transmitted) hadith: ... until the dawn breaks. The point is: as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described Himself with coming, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described his Lord with descent in this hadith. We, the people of the Sunnah, who truly belong to the Salaf (the earliest generations) and are sincere, if Allah wills, we say as our Lord said: He comes, and we say of Him as our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He descends. Not how. And asking how is part of takyif (asking how an attribute is). So, not how, meaning no movement. Why? And now I connect this statement to the previous explanation. I say: movement is an attribute of the created being; it moves from one place to another, as happened to us just now. We were in this room and moved to this room. That room became empty of us and this room became occupied by us. So, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) comes or descends, it is not fitting for us to describe Him as we describe our own coming from there to here. That would necessitate vacating that place and occupying this place which was previously empty. There is nothing like Him. We describe Him with what He described Himself with. He comes, He comes, how? We do not know. He descends, He descends, how? We do not know. The point is that the scholars of kalam (theology) who declare disbelief—I do not mean by the words of the Qur'an, but I mean they declare disbelief by the meanings of the Qur'an.