The Shaykh’s (may Allah have mercy on him) discourse on the hadith of the maidservant that affirms the attribute of elevation

The Shaykh : And finally, we narrate the following hadith to affirm this belief: the belief in the rising of the Lord above His Throne and His exaltation over all His creation, and as evidence to refute the figurative interpretation (ta'wil) which leads to the denial of divine realities. Imam Muslim narrates in his Sahih from Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) that he Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami said to the man who sneezed beside him: "May Allah have mercy on you." It was as if he was outside the prayer, not knowing that this is speech, and it is not permissible for the one praying to speak. "So those who were on his sides looked at him with a look of silencing him, but he became more agitated than before and said: 'Woe to my mother, why are you looking at him?!'"
The poor man, due to his distance from knowledge, did not realize his mistake, that he was speaking in prayer, and that speech invalidates the prayer even if it is just one word: "May Allah have mercy on you, O sneezer." "So the Companions took to slapping their thighs to silence him. Mu'awiyah says: 'When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me.'" Imagine the state of mind of this person who felt, after... after a while, that he had made a mistake, and the Messenger came to him. What would he imagine? That he would equal him? That he would reprimand him? That he would call him ignorant, like "O ignorant one," as our shaykhs do, except for a few of them. I mean, if a person commits a grave sin, a person almost wishes the earth would swallow him because of the intensity of the reprimand. Can you imagine this? Mu'awiyah thought that the Messenger (peace be upon him), who was coming to him, would point out his mistake and reprimand him. Mu'awiyah said: "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me. By Allah, he did not hit me, nor did he look at me with anger, nor did he insult me. He only said to me: ." When Mu'awiyah saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with this gentle and soft character, it was as if he returned to himself and held himself accountable, realizing that he was ignorant and that he had to learn. Therefore, he began to throw question after question at the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: "O Messenger of Allah, some of us come to the fortune-tellers." Meaning the astrologers and diviners. He said: . He said: "O Messenger of Allah, some of us take omens." They consider things unlucky. He said: ; meaning if one of you takes an omen, he does not respond to it... in his path. Of course, these are quick words and need explanation, perhaps at another suitable time, if Allah wills, we will explain them. "He said: 'O Messenger of Allah, some of us draw ,' meaning they draw in the sand. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A prophet from among the prophets used to draw, so whoever matches his drawing with his, that is fine." He said: "O Messenger of Allah." This is also a phrase that needs explanation later. He said: "O Messenger of Allah—and here is the point—'I have a maidservant who tends my sheep in al-Hudaybiyah. One day, a wolf raided my sheep. When she informed me, and I am a human being, I get angry as humans get angry, so I struck her a blow.'" Meaning he regretted what he did, so he said: "And upon me is the freeing of a slave." As if he is asking the Messenger if freeing this maidservant is sufficient as expiation for my injustice to her because of... her and my striking her with that blow. He (peace be upon him) said: ائت بها Bring her. When she came, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked her: أين الله ؟ Where is Allah?. She said: "In the sky." He said to her: مَن أنا ؟ Who am I?. She said: "You are the Messenger of Allah." He said to her master: اعتقها ؛ فإنها مؤمنة Free her; for she is a believer.. This hadith is in Sahih Muslim, so take heed, O people of insight. Despite it being in Sahih Muslim, many shaykhs today deny the authenticity of this hadith in terms of its chain of narration. Its chain is one of the most authentic chains. Some do not accept that it is denied because the chain is authentic. What do they say? They say the Messenger saw the culture of the maidservant. This maidservant was a Bedouin, and he accommodated her in her concepts. She was... Allah is in the sky, meaning it is not the idols present on earth that created the creatures, but He who... Allah. They say that when the Messenger (peace be upon him) heard her say "in the sky," she did not mean "above," but merely affirmed that this universe has a Creator, and it is not the idols that the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) worshipped. We say to them first: The Messenger of Allah does not approve of falsehood. Even if it were a maidservant, even if she were a Bedouin. And does the Messenger (peace be upon him) know the learned or does he know the ignorant? If you assume that this maidservant is ignorant and speaks falsehood in your opinion, that Allah is not in the sky, when you see the answer from the maidservant, you would say this maidservant is mistaken in this. How is she mistaken when the Messenger approved her? He approved her because she intended a pure meaning, stripped of affirming that Allah has the attribute of elevation. So we say to them: The maidservant, in reality, seems to me, behind these long centuries, to be more knowledgeable than these scholars for two reasons: First, she affirmed what Allah affirmed in His Book, where He said: أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَمُورُ *أَمْ أَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا ⁽¹⁶⁾ Do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not cause the earth to swallow you and suddenly it would sway? ⁽¹⁷⁾ Or do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not send against you a storm of stones?[Al-Mulk 67:16-17]; so the maidservant means she is cultured with the culture of the Qur'an, so she affirmed and testified to what the Qur'an testified to. How can you say she was mistaken in saying "Allah is in the sky"? This is first.
Second: Do you believe that the Messenger (peace be upon him) approves of falsehood? Say no. So how did he approve of this maidservant with this statement that you deny? The maidservant says that Allah is in the sky, and you say that Allah is not in the sky. So how did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stand towards this maidservant in the position of one who approves of falsehood, which you believe is false? This is your faith in the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who does not speak from desire; it is only a revelation that is revealed. This hadith is in Sahih Muslim. The people today who deny the elevation of Allah above His creation are between one who denies it despite its truth, and one who approves that the maidservant was mistaken and the Messenger accommodated her in her speech because she intended only to affirm that Allah is the Creator. This is from the evil consequences of figurative interpretation (ta'wil). The reality is that one who studies the topic of ta'wil finds for it dangers that are almost endless, from denying verses and from denying authentic hadiths. Either the text is a verse, and it is dealt with by ta'wil, or the text is a hadith, either by the way of denial, as is the case with this hadith, or by the way of ta'wil, as some do.