Discussion of the report of Umm Salama, which later became famous from Imam Malik when he was asked about the manner of the Lord’s rising above the Throne, and he said:

The Shaykh : It has come in the book *Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat* by Imam Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi, who narrated from Umm Salama that phrase which later became famous, attributed to Imam Malik ibn Anas, the Imam of the City of Migration. When he (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: , how did He rise above the Throne? He said: The rising above the Throne is known, the manner is unknown, and asking about it is a religious innovation. Malik said: Take this man out, meaning the questioner, for he is an innovator. The origin of this word, which is authentic from the Imam of the City of Migration, is actually from Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her). Al-Bayhaqi narrated, as I mentioned earlier, that Umm Salama said: The rising above the Throne is known, and the manner is unknown. So how is it permissible for a person who has knowledge to say what his desire and his soul, which is a prompter to evil, dictates? How can a person who has some knowledge and fears Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and does not speak about what he has no knowledge of, say that the Salaf did not interpret these verses but merely passed over them with respect, as it is said? This is in addition to what I pointed out earlier regarding the attribution to the Companions of a lack of reflection and contemplation of the Qur'an, especially what concerns this Qur'an which Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, revealed. How can it be said, after the establishment of such reports from the Salaf, from Umm Salama and from Imam Malik, let alone from others whose statements the famous al-Hakim, namely Imam al-Dhahabi, cited in the book he titled "Al-'Uluw li-Allahi al-Ghafar" or "Al-'Uluw li-Allahi al-'Azim," which I summarized a few years ago? There, he mentioned the reports after mentioning the verses and hadiths: reports from the Companions, then from the Tabi'un, then from those after them, and so on, then the scholars who came after them up to the time of Imam al-Dhahabi, who was in the first quarter of the eighth century Hijri. He mentioned the reports, and all of them held to the interpretation of the verses and the interpretation of the hadiths in a manner that contains absolutely no distortion, while adhering to the principle of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . From those reports are the two we mentioned earlier, from Umm Salama and from Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): that the rising above the Throne is known, meaning linguistically, but the manner is unknown. This is the methodology of the Salaf. And this is what I say from the same previous verse: . This denies the manner: . Hearing and seeing are known to every Arab man. And among the wonders of contradiction are these "waqifah" (those who stop at the text) who are neither from the Salaf nor from the Khalaf. They stop at certain points where they saw disagreement between the people of hadith and the Sunnah on one hand, and the Mu'tazilah on the other. Then some of those claiming affiliation with the people of the Sunnah, from the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah, imitated these Mu'tazilah. They forgot that the Salaf affirmed both the transcendence of Allah and the affirmation of attributes, acting in accordance with this verse. They forgot that there is no difference between affirming the attributes about which there was disagreement between the people of hadith and the Asha'irah, and the other attributes in which both groups, the people of hadith and the Asha'irah and their like, agreed to affirm, such as the attribute of hearing and the attribute of seeing. They do not hesitate, and they have the right to do so, and this is the belief of the Salaf, to say that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has the attribute of hearing and the attribute of seeing. What is the difference between these two attributes established in the verse and any other attribute mentioned in the Noble Qur'an? For example, the hand, which the questioner mentioned as an example, and the rising above the Throne of the Merciful, Blessed and Exalted is He, and the attribute of coming: . What is the difference between believing in these two attributes, the attribute of hearing and the attribute of seeing, let alone the other attributes, the attribute of life, the attribute of will, the attribute of power, and so on? We, the Salafis, who follow the righteous Salaf, believe in these attributes and find no difficulty in our hearts in doing so, and this is true faith. But why do they not apply this principle of believing in every attribute mentioned in the Book or in the Sunnah without likening Allah to creation? When they believed in the attribute of hearing and seeing, they said: Hearing that is not like our hearing, and seeing that is not like our seeing. What prevented them from saying: Rising above the Throne that is not like our rising above the Throne, and descending that is not like our descending, and a hand that is not like our hand? And so it is said, hypothetically, for all the verses and hadiths of the attributes: we believe in them as they came, without asking how an attribute is, and without figurative interpretation. We believe in them as they came, not out of ignorance of them, but because we believe in them with knowledge of them, for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed these verses in the language of the Qur'an, this language in which He revealed all the rulings of the Shari'ah, and by which we understood them, so we also understand all matters of the unseen by this language, but without likening Allah to creation or comparing Allah to creation.