The Creed of al-Tahawi and the People of the Sunnah Regarding the Seeing of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : After establishing the seeing, he said: "And its interpretation is as Allah (the Exalted) intended and knew"; meaning he speaks about the reality of the seeing without defining it by a limit, but the matter of this reality is left to Allah (Mighty and Majestic); He is the One who knows it, and we are unable to grasp its essence and reality.
Eid Abbasi : What is the commentary?
The Shaykh : Then.
Eid Abbasi : Do you allow me?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
He says: "And every authentic hadith that has come regarding this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is as he said." This is the creed of Imam al-Tahawi, in which he aligns with the People of the Sunnah with extreme clarity; for he considers every authentic hadith, without the philosophy of interpretation and restriction, to be mass-transmitted. Rather, an authentic hadith is one where everything that comes in the authentic hadith must be taken and believed in, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) must be believed in what he said. "And its meaning is also as He intended"; meaning Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), "we do not enter into it with figurative interpretation as the Mu'tazilah did with their opinions, nor with delusion with our desires." We sit and we ask how; how does He see? Not how, as Malik said in the famous report from him: "For none is safe in his religion except the one who submits to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and refers the knowledge of what is ambiguous to its Knower." What is ambiguous to us in the verse of seeing and the hadiths of seeing? The essence of the seeing and the reality of the seeing, not the origin of the seeing. So the origin of the seeing is not among the ambiguous verses, and likewise all verses and hadiths of the attributes: the hand, the foot, the descent, and the coming; all these attributes are not among the ambiguous verses, but are among the clear and decisive verses. However, the ambiguous aspect of them is their reality and their modality. This reality and this modality are what is ambiguous to us, so we refer it to its Knower, or the One who knows it, who is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
The questioner : Is it likening the seeing or likening the One seen?
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Likening the One seen.
The Shaykh : The seeing of Allah is also the same, whether you say... the seeing of Allah or the One seen, who is Allah; meaning there is no separation between them.
Eid Abbasi : This concerns the issue of those who say: "Allah is limited..."; what is your statement regarding it?
The Shaykh : We stop here at page two hundred and nineteen.
Eid Abbasi : What is the commentary?
The Shaykh : Then.
Eid Abbasi : Do you allow me?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
He says: "And every authentic hadith that has come regarding this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is as he said." This is the creed of Imam al-Tahawi, in which he aligns with the People of the Sunnah with extreme clarity; for he considers every authentic hadith, without the philosophy of interpretation and restriction, to be mass-transmitted. Rather, an authentic hadith is one where everything that comes in the authentic hadith must be taken and believed in, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) must be believed in what he said. "And its meaning is also as He intended"; meaning Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), "we do not enter into it with figurative interpretation as the Mu'tazilah did with their opinions, nor with delusion with our desires." We sit and we ask how; how does He see? Not how, as Malik said in the famous report from him: "For none is safe in his religion except the one who submits to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and refers the knowledge of what is ambiguous to its Knower." What is ambiguous to us in the verse of seeing and the hadiths of seeing? The essence of the seeing and the reality of the seeing, not the origin of the seeing. So the origin of the seeing is not among the ambiguous verses, and likewise all verses and hadiths of the attributes: the hand, the foot, the descent, and the coming; all these attributes are not among the ambiguous verses, but are among the clear and decisive verses. However, the ambiguous aspect of them is their reality and their modality. This reality and this modality are what is ambiguous to us, so we refer it to its Knower, or the One who knows it, who is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
The questioner : Is it likening the seeing or likening the One seen?
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Likening the One seen.
The Shaykh : The seeing of Allah is also the same, whether you say... the seeing of Allah or the One seen, who is Allah; meaning there is no separation between them.
Eid Abbasi : This concerns the issue of those who say: "Allah is limited..."; what is your statement regarding it?
The Shaykh : We stop here at page two hundred and nineteen.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.