Warning Against Excessive Rigor in Religion and the Story of the People of the Cow

The Shaykh : There is also a second point we add to what Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) said.
Asking about the manner of His rising above the Throne, while it is an innovation of excessive rigor in the religion of Allah—excessive rigor means delving too deeply into the religion, delving too deeply and asking about what He has not informed us of—this is destruction, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): They are destroyed. This can be understood as a statement of fact or as a supplication, and in any case, it is a warning against excessive rigor in the religion of Allah. Take things at their apparent level.
It is mentioned that the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), passed by a pool of camels and encountered a companion of his, with a man walking with him. Some water from the pool splashed on him, so the man who was splashed said: "O owner of the pool, is the water impure?" 'Umar said: "O owner of the pool, do not tell us, O owner of the pool, do not tell us". Why? Because asking about the water of the pool is excessive rigor, and the one who is excessively rigorous is destroyed, and the destroyed one has no answer.
Accordingly, if water splashes on you, do not say, "This is sewage water," or that it might be water from a broken pipe. Do not doubt, do not ask, and do not investigate. If water from a gutter above splashes on you, it is possible that one of the boys urinated in the gutter and it fell, or that the roof was washed and the water fell, or that there was fog that condensed and fell. All of this is possible. Do you ask? If water from a gutter splashes on you, do you say: "O so-and-so, go to the owner of the house, O so-and-so, water from your gutter splashed on me, is it impure or not?" No. So, do not be excessively rigorous in the religion of Allah, neither in matters of information nor in matters of rulings. Submit and surrender, and do not seek details.
What is the consequence of excessive rigor? Listen to the story of the Children of Israel. They killed a soul without right; a tribe killed a man from another tribe, and they disputed over it, so they came to Moses. He said: "Slaughter a cow, slaughter a cow, and strike the slain with a part of the cow, and it will become clear to you who the killer is." Glory be to Allah! Do you see, if they had slaughtered a cow, any cow, and struck the slain with a part of it, would the purpose have been achieved or not?
The student: It would be achieved.

The Shaykh : It would be achieved, but they delved too deeply and were destroyed. They were too strict, so Allah made it strict for them. Big? Small? What is it?
The student: Yellow...

The Shaykh : No, my brothers, be patient with me. Did they do it? They did not do it.
Another question came: Now we know the age is between a milch cow and a virgin cow, but we need the color. Fine, slaughter a cow, black, white, whatever, it is up to you. They said, no, we must specify the color. Three descriptions. He did not say just a yellow cow. Intensely yellow, and is it ugly? Strictness. If they had been told it is a yellow, black, or white cow, would they have complied or not?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : How quickly you collapse, my brothers! If they had been told just a yellow cow, would they have complied or not?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : They would have complied, because this is a color. They only asked what its color is. If they had been told yellow, the matter would have ended, but it was made strict for them. It remained, a question remained, what is it? "Call upon your Lord to make it clear to us what it is." What is it? A milch cow and a virgin cow, what is it? It was not similar to them, but they were liars. There is a problem in the matter. He said. Free from every defect. It has no defect at all. And then look at the judgment by reason. Before? Before that? They did not bring the truth, I seek refuge in Allah! As if they were the ones who judged. With submission, expansion, relaxation, and haste. Look, is the speech correct or not?
The student: Not correct.

The Shaykh : They slaughtered it with submission, expansion, relaxation, joy, and happiness, and what else?
The student: And a narrow chest.

The Shaykh : No, on the contrary, the opposite of what I am saying. They did not do it until after all that. What is all this the result of?
The student: Excessive rigor.

The Shaykh : Excessive rigor and strictness. Therefore, if a person is excessively rigorous, even in wudu, if he is excessively rigorous in wudu and starts rubbing, the evil increases for him, and a door opens for him, what is it? The door of waswas (whispers of doubt). Then he starts washing the limb three times and says, "It has not been completed," and he repeats it, saying, "It has not been completed," because if a person is strict, Allah makes it strict for him, whether the strictness is legislative or natural. Whenever you are strict with yourself, Allah will be strict with you. So, take the easiest and simplest path. For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was never given a choice between two things except that he chose the easiest of them, as long as it was not a sin. If it was a sin, he was the farthest of people from it.
So I say: The one who asks about the manner of the attributes of Allah is excessively rigorous, and the obligatory thing in these matters of unseen information is complete submission and that we do not ask about anything beyond that.
Some of the youth said: "Allah descends to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains."
I hope to return. So, we affirm that the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted is: He is High and Exalted without likening Him to creation and without asking how. We testify that the Highness of Allah above His Throne is not like the highness of a man on a camel, because Allah says and we stand, so we do not ask how regarding the attributes of Allah, because we do not know the manner of His attributes. Then, any manner you estimate in your mind or pronounce with your tongue, you are a liar, because you have no knowledge of it.