Discussion of His saying: “None touch it except the purified.”

Al-Halabi: Naturally, the author wrote a long passage under the heading “What is forbidden for one in a state of ritual impurity,” and then he came to...

The Shaykh: We need the point that the brother brought up.
Al-Halabi: He says, and what was said after he mentioned the verse, which is the verse He said, and what was said is that the book referred to is the Preserved Tablet. This is refuted by the fact that the Tablet was not sent down, whereas what was sent down is the Qur'an, and because the Prophet... to the end of it. Then he says, and what was said is that the purified are the angels. This is refuted by the fact that the verse contains a negation and an affirmation: and in the sky there are none but the purified. From this it is known that Allah the Exalted intended the human beings, for they are the ones who are described as purified or not purified, and that is not said of the angels.

The Shaykh: The important thing is that you did well in the transmission, and we are now reassured that if you respond, I will not respond to you, but rather I will respond to the one from whom you transmitted this that you intended. Is this necessary? First, this verse is a report from Allah Blessed and Exalted, and it is not the establishment of a legal ruling concerning the accountable human beings. What is the beginning of the verse? This verse speaks of a hidden matter. It says that this Qur'an which is recited to you from Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is in a hidden book. That is, hidden means concealed, meaning preserved, as came in the other verse: How is the verse? The same meaning is here in the hidden book; it is the Preserved Tablet. And as the scholars say, the Qur'an explains parts of itself. The words of the author, Ashur, are refuted on two sides. The first side is that this is merely a report from Allah, as He reported in the end of Surat al-Buruj: A report concerning the belief of the Muslim, and it does not concern an action for him. No. Likewise, the other verse. So his statement that there are none in the sky but purified angels is refuted. The answer is that there are none in the sky but the purified angels. Allah the Mighty and Majestic said that these verses preserved in the Preserved Tablet, which the angels bring down, are not brought down by the devils, but rather they are brought down by the purified angels. This is the first refutation. The second refutation: As for humans, first, there is no text in the Book or in the Sunnah that they are described as purified. Even the chosen, righteous prophets and messengers were never described as purified. What does purified mean? It means created with a natural disposition, as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said regarding the angels: So these angels are the ones described in this verse: As for humans, the righteous among them are those who purify themselves, while the sinners among them are defiled. Therefore, our Lord the Mighty and Majestic says: They were not created purified. Those who were created purified are only the angels. As for the righteous human, it is his nature to err and to repent to Allah, as said in the hadith: So the children of Adam are created as sinners, as came in the authentic hadith in Muslim: Thus, our Lord the Mighty and Majestic created people; He did not make them angels created with a disposition for obedience, but rather created with a disposition for disobedience, but with the condition of repentance: If Adam, the first of the prophets and the first father of humans, committed a sin, then his descendants were stamped with this mark. But the righteous among them are those who err, then seek forgiveness, and Allah forgives them. So these righteous ones who repent after sinning are the ones who purify themselves, and it is not linguistically correct to describe them as purified, for the purified is one who is purified by creation, like the water that descends from the sky; it is pure and purifying. But when it mixes with this world, something may mix in it that takes it out of its purity. So the angels in the verse are the purified, and the evidence for that is from the words of the Salaf, the statement of Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) in this issue or in this verse. He said in al-Muwatta: “The best I have heard in the interpretation of this verse is that it is like His saying Blessed and Exalted—and this is in fact from the jurisprudence of the Imam of the City of Migration—that it is like His saying in Surat Abasa: These scribes are the purified intended in the previous verse.”

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.