The Shaykh’s clarification and explanation of the hadiths and verses regarding the attributes according to the people of the Sunnah and the community.

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Your Eminence,The Shaykh : Please shed light for the brothers on the hadiths of the attributes, that they are to be passed on as they came, without figurative interpretation.

The Shaykh : Yes, the hadiths of the attributes and the verses of the attributes must be passed on as they came, as our righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them) said, without figurative interpretation. And this is not sufficient; rather, it should be accompanied by the statement that they are to be passed on without denial of the divine attributes. The meaning of “without denial of the divine attributes” is that their meanings are not interpreted in a way that diverts these meanings from their apparent indication. So it is not sufficient merely to avoid figurative interpretation; rather, the correct interpretation with the exaltation of Allah must also be added. For example, it is not permissible for us to interpret: as meaning “took control,” because this is figurative interpretation. It is also not permissible to pass them on without understanding their meaning. It is not permissible to pass them on without understanding their meaning. The meaning of *istiwa'* (rising above the Throne) is that He is above. So we say in that case: The meaning of “He rose above the Throne” is that He is above it, without asking how, without likening Allah to creation, and without denial of the divine attributes. This is how the position of every Muslim toward the verses of the attributes and the hadiths of the attributes must be: belief in their true meanings without figurative interpretation and without ascribing a body to Allah. This is my advice to you.

The questioner : But this is the statement ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani. So what is the statement for the students of knowledge, because they also, in the hadiths of the attributes, interpret them through their own independent legal reasoning.

The Shaykh : Figurative interpretation is not permissible. We say without figurative interpretation and without ascribing a body to Allah. Figurative interpretation is denial of the divine attributes, and ascribing a body to Allah is likening Allah to creation. Allah the Exalted said: . So our Lord is All-Hearing and All-Seeing, but: . So we advise the students in this way: to always be with the verses, submitting to their apparent meanings, without likening Allah to creation and without figurative interpretation, which is denial of the divine attributes, as Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The one who ascribes a body to Allah worships an idol, and the one who denies the divine attributes worships nothing.”
The one who ascribes a body to Allah worships an idol, and Allah is exalted from being one who ascribes a body to Himself. And the one who denies the divine attributes worships nothing. Therefore, submission is necessary, and so on.

The questioner : Now, Your Eminence, also shed light on the fact that the brothers did not follow every narrator they heard, and did not write down every pen’s writing, meaning they should take the selected hadith from its proper sources.

The Shaykh : Of course, if the hadith is regarding rulings and morals, it is not permissible unless it is valid. How much more so if it is related to creed? So it is not befitting to take anything but authentic hadiths in everything related to the Shari'ah, whether it is creed, or worship, or conduct.