Questions - Can we say to the one who asks about the attributes of Allah, such as asking how Allah descends, that we should ask him how is His essence? If he says I do not know, do we say to him how do you ask about His attributes?
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The questioner : The first question: The questioner asks, "O honorable Shaykh, can we say to the one who asks about the attributes of Allah, such as asking how Allah descends, that we should ask him how is His essence? If he says I do not know, do we say to him how do you ask about His attributes?"
The Shaykh : Yes, we say to this one who asks about the attributes that we also ask him about the essence. We do not ask because we are satisfied with the question about the modality, but to compel him: if he denies knowledge of the modality of the essence, he must deny knowledge of the modality of the attributes. Otherwise, we say that asking about the modality, whether it pertains to the essence or the attributes, is among the matters of religious innovation. However, we say this by way of compulsion: if you cannot ask about the modality of His essence, you cannot ask about the modality of His attributes, because the discussion of the attributes is a branch of the discussion of the essence.
The Shaykh : Yes, we say to this one who asks about the attributes that we also ask him about the essence. We do not ask because we are satisfied with the question about the modality, but to compel him: if he denies knowledge of the modality of the essence, he must deny knowledge of the modality of the attributes. Otherwise, we say that asking about the modality, whether it pertains to the essence or the attributes, is among the matters of religious innovation. However, we say this by way of compulsion: if you cannot ask about the modality of His essence, you cannot ask about the modality of His attributes, because the discussion of the attributes is a branch of the discussion of the essence.