The Creed of the People of the Sunnah Regarding the Attributes of Allah: Detail in Negation and Summary in Affirmation, Unlike the Creed of the People of Denial of Attributes; and negation with you is in detail
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The Shaykh :"And negation with you is in detail, and ***affirmation is in summary" Yes
"And negation with you is in detail, and ***affirmation is in summary without denial"
The method of the people of denial of attributes: listen, regarding the attributes, they negate. Why? So that they do not liken Allah to existing things. If they affirm, they say that Allah the Exalted is not inside the world, nor outside it, nor Hearing, nor Seeing, nor blind, and so on. They always negate and do not affirm. Why? They said, "Because if we affirm, we would liken Him to what? To existing things, so we negate." We said to them, "If you negate, you have likened Him to non-existent things, and you have fallen into something worse than what you fled from." Then a third group came and said, "Then we are safe from objection; we do not describe Him by affirmation or negation, neither by affirmation nor negation. We do not say He is Hearing, nor do we say He is not Hearing." Do you understand? To get rid of the Salaf and the deniers, we said to them, "If you say this, you have likened Him to impossible things, because there is nothing that is neither existent nor non-existent, neither existent nor non-existent, neither Hearing nor deaf, neither Seeing nor blind. How is this?" So the people of denial of attributes, may Allah protect us from them, whenever they fled from something, they fell into something worse than it. Yes. He said, may Allah have mercy on him: "But you are the opposite"
"And negation with you is in detail, and ***affirmation is in summary without denial"
We read the verse related to it
"And the affirmers, their path is negation in ***summary and detail through clarification"
The affirmers, who are the Salaf and their followers, are the opposite of the people of denial of attributes; they summarize in negation and detail in affirmation, correct? Why?
First, because this is the method of the Qur'an. How many verses did Allah mention in which He described the attributes of perfection in detail? Many. You could say almost all verses, or most of them? All are details of the attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And how many verses mentioned negation in summary? Few. You can count them on your fingers; they do not exceed ten verses. Yes, except what is related to oneness of worship and worship, which is many. Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, detailed negation is very little; it is all summary, all summary. Detailed negation is little, and detailed affirmation is much. So the affirmers detailed in affirmation and summarized in negation. Why? Pay attention. First, because that is the method of the Qur'an. You understand, Sulayman. Good
Second: that detail in affirmation is praise and glorification of the one described, and summary and detail in negation is criticism, a defect, and mockery of the one described. Do you understand, people? Is the speech reasonable? We give an example. This is a man who stood up to praise the king, praising him as a king in front of him, saying, "You are the brave, courageous, generous, and forbearing king," and he began to mention attributes of perfection that fill pages. Every time the king mentioned an attribute of perfection, he swelled up, yes, and increased until he became like a great mountain due to the abundance of attributes of affirmation... Then a poor man came wanting to imitate the one who affirms, and he stood before the king and said to him, "O King, you are not a hunchback, nor a scavenger, nor a dwarf, nor a beast, nor a donkey, nor a dog." What does this man say? He stood and heaped upon him this negation. What does the king say? He says, "Imprison him and put him in jail." Is this man praising the king or not? No, he is not praising him at all. This is criticizing him and saying, "You are mocking him. Who told me I am a hunchback? Who told me I am a scavenger?" Yes, correct or not? This is correct. So the ruling on detail in negation is actually criticism of the one described. For this reason, Allah did not mention detail in negation except in few matters, either to refute the statement of one who described Him with this negated thing, such as His saying, the Exalted:[Al-Ikhlas 112:3] Or to dispel the suspicion of a defect in His perfection, such as His saying, the Exalted: [Qaf 50:38] Because a person might imagine that the One who created the heavens created these great heavens and the great earth in six days, so He must, what? Get tired. So He said: [Qaf 50:38] Perhaps the sinner would dare to sin and say, "Perhaps he sins while Allah is unaware." So Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Baqarah 2:74] Likewise, perhaps someone would say, "The heavens and the earth, all this is play; it is all play, life and death, that's it." So He said: [Ad-Dukhan 44:38] So the result is that you do not find negation in the attributes of Allah in the way of detail except for a reason. So the method of the people of the Sunnah and the community, the path of the people of the Sunnah and the community, is detail in affirmation and summary in negation. Why?
For two reasons: The first reason: that this is the method of the Qur'an
And the second reason: that detail in affirmation is an increase in praise and perfection, and detail in negation is an increase in criticism and diminishment. It is clear, and we gave you a clear example. Yes. And do not stand before someone you love and describe him with attributes of negation, for if you do that, what will happen? He will punish you and say, "This is not a sign of love," is it not so? Yes. You understand my words. Good. What did you understand?
The student: ... He will punish you ... .
The Shaykh : Yes. And if you detail in affirmation in the attributes of perfection, yes, good. I think the time is over. Good. Al-Furqan. Yes, good
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A small disagreement, this, and you presented it
The reader: "The saying of the Messenger regarding that"
The Shaykh : Yes, indeed
The reader: "The Shaykh said, and Muhkam" .
The Shaykh : And Muhkam. Good. Al-Furqan. Good. Yes.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : A small disagreement, this, what... Yes.
"And negation with you is in detail, and ***affirmation is in summary without denial"
The method of the people of denial of attributes: listen, regarding the attributes, they negate. Why? So that they do not liken Allah to existing things. If they affirm, they say that Allah the Exalted is not inside the world, nor outside it, nor Hearing, nor Seeing, nor blind, and so on. They always negate and do not affirm. Why? They said, "Because if we affirm, we would liken Him to what? To existing things, so we negate." We said to them, "If you negate, you have likened Him to non-existent things, and you have fallen into something worse than what you fled from." Then a third group came and said, "Then we are safe from objection; we do not describe Him by affirmation or negation, neither by affirmation nor negation. We do not say He is Hearing, nor do we say He is not Hearing." Do you understand? To get rid of the Salaf and the deniers, we said to them, "If you say this, you have likened Him to impossible things, because there is nothing that is neither existent nor non-existent, neither existent nor non-existent, neither Hearing nor deaf, neither Seeing nor blind. How is this?" So the people of denial of attributes, may Allah protect us from them, whenever they fled from something, they fell into something worse than it. Yes. He said, may Allah have mercy on him: "But you are the opposite"
"And negation with you is in detail, and ***affirmation is in summary without denial"
We read the verse related to it
"And the affirmers, their path is negation in ***summary and detail through clarification"
The affirmers, who are the Salaf and their followers, are the opposite of the people of denial of attributes; they summarize in negation and detail in affirmation, correct? Why?
First, because this is the method of the Qur'an. How many verses did Allah mention in which He described the attributes of perfection in detail? Many. You could say almost all verses, or most of them? All are details of the attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And how many verses mentioned negation in summary? Few. You can count them on your fingers; they do not exceed ten verses. Yes, except what is related to oneness of worship and worship, which is many. Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, detailed negation is very little; it is all summary, all summary. Detailed negation is little, and detailed affirmation is much. So the affirmers detailed in affirmation and summarized in negation. Why? Pay attention. First, because that is the method of the Qur'an. You understand, Sulayman. Good
Second: that detail in affirmation is praise and glorification of the one described, and summary and detail in negation is criticism, a defect, and mockery of the one described. Do you understand, people? Is the speech reasonable? We give an example. This is a man who stood up to praise the king, praising him as a king in front of him, saying, "You are the brave, courageous, generous, and forbearing king," and he began to mention attributes of perfection that fill pages. Every time the king mentioned an attribute of perfection, he swelled up, yes, and increased until he became like a great mountain due to the abundance of attributes of affirmation... Then a poor man came wanting to imitate the one who affirms, and he stood before the king and said to him, "O King, you are not a hunchback, nor a scavenger, nor a dwarf, nor a beast, nor a donkey, nor a dog." What does this man say? He stood and heaped upon him this negation. What does the king say? He says, "Imprison him and put him in jail." Is this man praising the king or not? No, he is not praising him at all. This is criticizing him and saying, "You are mocking him. Who told me I am a hunchback? Who told me I am a scavenger?" Yes, correct or not? This is correct. So the ruling on detail in negation is actually criticism of the one described. For this reason, Allah did not mention detail in negation except in few matters, either to refute the statement of one who described Him with this negated thing, such as His saying, the Exalted:
He neither begets nor is born,
لم يلد ولم يولدAnd We did certainly create the heavens and earth and what is between them in six days, and there touched Us no weariness.
ولقد خلقنا السماوات والأرض وما بينهما في ستة أيام وما مسنا من لغوبand there touched Us no weariness.
وما مسنا من لغوبAnd Allah is not unaware of what you do.
وما الله بغافل عما تعملونAnd We did not create the heavens and earth and that between them in play.
وما خلقنا السماوات والأرض وما بينهما لاعبينFor two reasons: The first reason: that this is the method of the Qur'an
And the second reason: that detail in affirmation is an increase in praise and perfection, and detail in negation is an increase in criticism and diminishment. It is clear, and we gave you a clear example. Yes. And do not stand before someone you love and describe him with attributes of negation, for if you do that, what will happen? He will punish you and say, "This is not a sign of love," is it not so? Yes. You understand my words. Good. What did you understand?
The student: ... He will punish you ... .
The Shaykh : Yes. And if you detail in affirmation in the attributes of perfection, yes, good. I think the time is over. Good. Al-Furqan. Yes, good
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A small disagreement, this, and you presented it
The reader: "The saying of the Messenger regarding that"
The Shaykh : Yes, indeed
The reader: "The Shaykh said, and Muhkam" .
The Shaykh : And Muhkam. Good. Al-Furqan. Good. Yes.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : A small disagreement, this, what... Yes.