The Innate Evidence for Affirming the Exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : So what is the third type of evidence?
The student: The innate evidence
The Shaykh : The innate evidence that Allah created people with, without learning, without research, and without debate; a person knows it from his innate disposition when you say: O Lord, where does your heart fly?
How?
The student: To the heights
The Shaykh : It does not fly to the earth or descend to the earth. When you say: O Lord, your heart, you find a necessity in the heart to rise upward. That is why you raise your hands automatically, O Lord. Even those who deny it, who say that Allah is in every place by His essence, if you saw them while they are supplicating to Allah, where do they raise their hands?
The student: To the sky
The Shaykh : To the sky, O Lord! Glory be to Allah! How do you raise your hands to the sky while you say that Allah is in every place by His essence? Your hands must fly to the right, to the left, below, and above for your orientation toward Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to be true.
So, the innate disposition necessitates that Allah the Exalted is above everything, as evidenced by the fact that when a person supplicates to his Lord, as soon as he supplicates, he finds a necessity in his heart to seek the heights.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book: "The Gathering of the Islamic Armies for the Attack on the Deniers of Attributes and the Jahmiyyah" that Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni was affirming it, may Allah forgive him and pardon him, saying: "Indeed, Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) created the heavens and the earth, and He is now as He was" — pay attention — He created the heavens and the earth, meaning before everything, and He is now as He was. What do you understand from this statement? He wants to deny the rising of Allah above the Throne. If He is now as He was, it means He did not rise above the Throne. So Abu al-'Ala' al-Hamdani (may Allah have mercy on them) said to him: O teacher, leave us alone from mentioning the Throne — meaning that the rising above the Throne is not a rational proof, it is a transmitted proof; if Allah had not informed us that He rose above the Throne, we would not have known it — "But He informed us about this necessity; no one has ever said: O Allah, except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights".
Do you understand the statement or not? He says: He informed me about the innate disposition and this necessity; no one has ever said it, and the one who knows means the worshipper or the supplicant; no one has ever said O Allah except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights. And this is correct. So the man, Abu al-Ma'ali, struck his head and said: "Al-Hamdani has confused me, al-Hamdani has confused me". Why did he confuse him?
Because the innate evidence cannot be denied by anyone. The innate evidence cannot be denied by anyone. That is why, when a person becomes hungry, what does he seek? When a person becomes hungry, what does he seek?
The student: Food
The Shaykh : He seeks food. Does anyone teach him, saying: O so-and-so, if you become hungry, seek food, and if you become thirsty, seek water? Or is this present in the innate disposition? This is present in the innate disposition. The exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is present in the innate disposition. No supplicant has ever supplicated to his Lord except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights. That is why Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni was confused and unable to answer. So it became clear through this that the exaltation of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is indicated by the transmitted evidence and what else? The intellect and the innate disposition. The transmitted evidence is of three types: the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus? Did you understand? May Allah bless you. Good.
The student: The innate evidence
The Shaykh : The innate evidence that Allah created people with, without learning, without research, and without debate; a person knows it from his innate disposition when you say: O Lord, where does your heart fly?
How?
The student: To the heights
The Shaykh : It does not fly to the earth or descend to the earth. When you say: O Lord, your heart, you find a necessity in the heart to rise upward. That is why you raise your hands automatically, O Lord. Even those who deny it, who say that Allah is in every place by His essence, if you saw them while they are supplicating to Allah, where do they raise their hands?
The student: To the sky
The Shaykh : To the sky, O Lord! Glory be to Allah! How do you raise your hands to the sky while you say that Allah is in every place by His essence? Your hands must fly to the right, to the left, below, and above for your orientation toward Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to be true.
So, the innate disposition necessitates that Allah the Exalted is above everything, as evidenced by the fact that when a person supplicates to his Lord, as soon as he supplicates, he finds a necessity in his heart to seek the heights.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book: "The Gathering of the Islamic Armies for the Attack on the Deniers of Attributes and the Jahmiyyah" that Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni was affirming it, may Allah forgive him and pardon him, saying: "Indeed, Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) created the heavens and the earth, and He is now as He was" — pay attention — He created the heavens and the earth, meaning before everything, and He is now as He was. What do you understand from this statement? He wants to deny the rising of Allah above the Throne. If He is now as He was, it means He did not rise above the Throne. So Abu al-'Ala' al-Hamdani (may Allah have mercy on them) said to him: O teacher, leave us alone from mentioning the Throne — meaning that the rising above the Throne is not a rational proof, it is a transmitted proof; if Allah had not informed us that He rose above the Throne, we would not have known it — "But He informed us about this necessity; no one has ever said: O Allah, except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights".
Do you understand the statement or not? He says: He informed me about the innate disposition and this necessity; no one has ever said it, and the one who knows means the worshipper or the supplicant; no one has ever said O Allah except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights. And this is correct. So the man, Abu al-Ma'ali, struck his head and said: "Al-Hamdani has confused me, al-Hamdani has confused me". Why did he confuse him?
Because the innate evidence cannot be denied by anyone. The innate evidence cannot be denied by anyone. That is why, when a person becomes hungry, what does he seek? When a person becomes hungry, what does he seek?
The student: Food
The Shaykh : He seeks food. Does anyone teach him, saying: O so-and-so, if you become hungry, seek food, and if you become thirsty, seek water? Or is this present in the innate disposition? This is present in the innate disposition. The exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is present in the innate disposition. No supplicant has ever supplicated to his Lord except that he found in his heart a necessity to seek the heights. That is why Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni was confused and unable to answer. So it became clear through this that the exaltation of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is indicated by the transmitted evidence and what else? The intellect and the innate disposition. The transmitted evidence is of three types: the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus? Did you understand? May Allah bless you. Good.