How is it reconciled that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) descends to the lowest heaven while He is above His creation?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: What is the way of...?
The Shaykh: What is it that...?
The questioner: The way of reconciling.
The Shaykh : Reconciliation.
The questioner: ... then the nearness, then the descent of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and His honoring of Musa, then His descent on the evening of 'Arafah, then His descent every night, then ... the innovated prayer ... in every land, so the question is to clarify this reconciliation between this ...?
The Shaykh: I did not understand what you mean by reconciliation?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: ... and the descent.
The Shaykh: Yes, what do you mean by reconciliation? Do you think there is a contradiction between the exaltation and the descent? So you are asking me to reconcile them, or what do you mean? Because I did not understand your question.
The questioner: The exaltation ... at 'Arafah ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: ... the descent ... at 'Arafah, then the descent ... then the descent of Allah and His honoring of Musa (peace be upon him) .
The Shaykh: Do you understand his question?
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : ... .
The questioner: ... I will rephrase the question.
The Shaykh: The word "reconciliation" is what is confusing me.
The questioner : Reconciliation.
Another questioner: The intended meaning is...
The Shaykh: How do we reconcile these attributes? I did not understand!
The questioner: I am asking you, the question is ... how does Allah, for example, descend on the Night of Decree in the East on a Friday, for example, and appear in another place on another day, which might be a Saturday ... in which the angels and the Spirit descend, so the angels and the Spirit descend on a Friday or a Saturday, and Allah, who descends to the lowest heaven in the last third of the night, is in a place where it is night, and in another place it is day.
The Shaykh: This is part of his question, but he wants the reconciliation between all these things ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: It is as if you want to say: How does He descend? And how is He exalted?!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Do you say it like this?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Fine, we will answer this. The descent does not necessitate a contradiction with the exaltation; because something may descend and still remain exalted. For example, the sun descends with its rays, and we say: the sun has entered; this is an approximation, of course. The sun has entered the room, and yet the sun is still in its high sky.
And with that, I want to remind you of a fact: when we respond to the deniers of the divine attributes regarding the saying of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic):[Ash-Shuraa 42:11], we do not mean to silence them, but we mean that this is our belief, [Ash-Shuraa 42:11]. So when one of you asks: How does He descend while He is on His Throne? This question stems from likening the Creator to His creations; because when we ask ourselves: How does He descend while He is on His Throne? we imagine a substance in its high sky and at the same time it is descending from its sky to a lower place. This clarifies the matter in our minds, and we can hardly comprehend it: is it exalted, or is this substance exalted and it is descending? And these two opposites do not actually coexist.
But our Lord[Ash-Shuraa 42:11], so He is not a substance for us to apply to Him everything that applies to what applies to a substance. And this example of this question is sufficient. If some people were to ask the following question, the one who asks would say: How is it that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) hears the requests of the millions and billions of humans, jinn, angels, and all creations that cannot be counted or enumerated in a single moment and responds to them? He hears, above all, and distinguishes these requests from one another, and then in that same moment He performs a very precise calculation; this is accepted and this is rejected; how is this?!
This question is wrong from its origin; because it is based on likening the Creator to the creations. And if we are correct in always and forever keeping in mind:[Ash-Shuraa 42:11]; then we must immediately realize that this question is wrong. And yet, as I said at the beginning of my speech, by way of approximation, just as the Messenger (peace be upon him) looked at how the believers will see Him on the Day of Resurrection, all of them on the same plain? It means a person has to imagine something beyond his intellect, that these people, from the day Allah created Adam until today; how many millions of billions of people? Something that no one can count except Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So the question came: How will all the believers see Him? ... .
The Shaykh: What is it that...?
The questioner: The way of reconciling.
The Shaykh : Reconciliation.
The questioner: ... then the nearness, then the descent of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and His honoring of Musa, then His descent on the evening of 'Arafah, then His descent every night, then ... the innovated prayer ... in every land, so the question is to clarify this reconciliation between this ...?
The Shaykh: I did not understand what you mean by reconciliation?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: ... and the descent.
The Shaykh: Yes, what do you mean by reconciliation? Do you think there is a contradiction between the exaltation and the descent? So you are asking me to reconcile them, or what do you mean? Because I did not understand your question.
The questioner: The exaltation ... at 'Arafah ... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner: ... the descent ... at 'Arafah, then the descent ... then the descent of Allah and His honoring of Musa (peace be upon him) .
The Shaykh: Do you understand his question?
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : ... .
The questioner: ... I will rephrase the question.
The Shaykh: The word "reconciliation" is what is confusing me.
The questioner : Reconciliation.
Another questioner: The intended meaning is...
The Shaykh: How do we reconcile these attributes? I did not understand!
The questioner: I am asking you, the question is ... how does Allah, for example, descend on the Night of Decree in the East on a Friday, for example, and appear in another place on another day, which might be a Saturday ... in which the angels and the Spirit descend, so the angels and the Spirit descend on a Friday or a Saturday, and Allah, who descends to the lowest heaven in the last third of the night, is in a place where it is night, and in another place it is day.
The Shaykh: This is part of his question, but he wants the reconciliation between all these things ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh: It is as if you want to say: How does He descend? And how is He exalted?!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Do you say it like this?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Fine, we will answer this. The descent does not necessitate a contradiction with the exaltation; because something may descend and still remain exalted. For example, the sun descends with its rays, and we say: the sun has entered; this is an approximation, of course. The sun has entered the room, and yet the sun is still in its high sky.
And with that, I want to remind you of a fact: when we respond to the deniers of the divine attributes regarding the saying of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic):
There is nothing like unto Him
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌThere is nothing like unto Him
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌBut our Lord
There is nothing like unto Him
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌThis question is wrong from its origin; because it is based on likening the Creator to the creations. And if we are correct in always and forever keeping in mind:
There is nothing like unto Him
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.