Clarification of the methodology of the people of the Sunnah regarding the chapter of names and attributes, along with a refutation of those who oppose them in this chapter.

The Shaykh : … This is their adherence to the statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He.
And the vision … in Paradise, without encompassing or specifying a manner. Evidence for this has come in the Book and the Sunnah. As for the Book, this is the explicit verse: , on the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Paradise: [Al-Qiyamah: 23]. Despite the explicitness of this verse, the Mu'tazilah applied the tools of demolition and figurative interpretation to it, saying that the verse does not indicate what the people of hadith and others have held, namely that the believers will see the Essence of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Rather, in the claim of the Mu'tazilah, the intent of the verse is looking toward the blessing of her Lord: , meaning toward the blessing of her Lord: .
And this, as you see, is on the same path they have taken with nearly all the verses of attributes. For example, they say: , meaning the verses of your Lord, or the angels of your Lord, or the command of your Lord, or similar phrases they assume in order to escape the implication of these texts, which contradicts their position of denying attributes such as coming down and descending. They also deny the vision of the believers of their Lord on the Day of Resurrection. They interpreted the statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: , meaning toward the blessing of her Lord and the bliss of her Lord: . This figurative interpretation is false without a doubt, based on what is known in the study of the topic of attributes, the verses of attributes, and the hadiths of attributes. That is, the principle in all Arabic speech is that it is to be taken in its literal sense and on its apparent meaning, not in its figurative interpretation or metaphorical sense. One only resorts to figurative interpretation and metaphor when the literal sense is impossible and cannot be adopted. However, when the Mu'tazilah fixed their ideas on likening the Creator to the created from the beginning, and on purifying Him from all attributes at the end, they found that a verse like this, which establishes the vision of the believers of their Lord, Mighty and Majestic, on the Day of Resurrection in Paradise, implies in their claim either encompassing Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and comprehending Him, or limiting Him to a direction. They affirm that Allah is not in a direction, and therefore they proceed to absolute denial of attributes, saying that Allah is in every place. All these deviations and figurative interpretations resulted from their neglect of applying one of the rules of the Arabic language, which is that: "the principle in every phrase is the literal sense", and it is not interpreted figuratively except out of necessity. Here, without a doubt, there is no necessity, because the vision of Allah does not necessarily have to be like our vision of one another. Our vision of our Lord is a vision that does not involve encompassing, does not involve comprehending, and does not involve confining Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to a place, and so on. These … which we must not affirm because they have not come in the Book or in the Sunnah. Since the matter is so, why do we deny the vision of Allah after it has been established, and after we have purified our Lord from everything that affects His majesty and greatness?

The questioner : A professor in the question.

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.