Discussion of the report of Umm Salama, which later became famous from Imam Malik; when he was asked about His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—

The Shaykh: Indeed, it is mentioned 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 as attributed to Imam Malik ibn Anas, the Imam of the City of Migration; that when he was asked—may Allah have mercy on him—about His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—: , how did He rise? He said: “The rising is known, the how is unknown, and asking about it is a religious innovation.” Malik said: “Take this man out—meaningThe questioner- for he is an innovator.” The origin of this statement, 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 is known, the how is unknown.” So how is it permissible for a person who has knowledge—while one who has no knowledge says whatever his desire and his soul, which commands evil, dictates—how can a person who has some knowledge and fears Allah—Mighty and Majestic—, and does not follow what he has no knowledge of, say: “The Salaf did not interpret these verses, but they passed over them as the noble ones do,” 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 and the One who revealed the Qur'an—Glorified and Exalted is He.
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-'Uluww li-‘Aliyy al-Ghaffar* (The Exaltation of the Exalted, the Forgiving), or *Al-'Uluww li-‘Aliyy al-Azim* (The Exaltation of the Exalted, the Great), which I abridged a few years ago? He mentioned the reports after mentioning the verses and hadiths: reports from the Companions, then from the Tabi'un, then from those who followed them, and so on, the scholars who came after them up to the era of Imam al-Dhahabi, who was in the first quarter of the eighth century of the Hijra. 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 His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—: . From those reports are the two reports we mentioned earlier from Umm Salama and from Imam Malik—may Allah have mercy on him—that the rising is known—meaning: linguistically—but the how is unknown. This is the methodology of the Salaf, and this is taken from the previous verse itself: . This denies the how. . Hearing and seeing are known to every Arab man.
And among the wonders of the contradiction of these people of the "standing" position, who are neither from the Salaf nor from the Khalaf, is that 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, followed these Mu'tazilah. They forgot that the Salaf affirmed both the transcendence of Allah and the attribution of attributes, applying this verse. They only 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, in saying that Allah—Mighty and Majestic—has the attribute of hearing and the attribute of seeing. So what is the difference between these two attributes established in the verse and any other attribute from the attributes mentioned in the Noble Qur'an? Such as the hand—for example—which the brother mentioned as an exampleThe questioner : , and the rising of the Most Merciful above His Throne—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 and power, and the like? They believe with us—we, the Salafis, who are followers of the righteous Salaf—they believe in these attributes and find no difficulty in their hearts, and this is true belief. But why do they not apply this principle of believing in every attribute mentioned in the Book or in the Sunnah without asking how? When they believed in the attribute of hearing and seeing, they said: “Hearing not like our hearing, and seeing not like our seeing.” So what prevented them from saying: “Rising not like our rising, and descending not like our descending, and a hand not like our hand,” and so on, applying this to all verses and hadiths of the attributes? We believe in them as they came, without asking how and without figurative interpretation. We believe in them as they came, not out of ignorance of them, but with knowledge of them; because Allah—Mighty and Majestic—revealed these verses in the language of the Qur'an, this language by which He revealed all the rulings of the Shari'ah, and by which we understood them. Likewise, we understand all matters of the unseen with this language, but without likening Allah to creation or comparing Allah to creation.