So if a man asks, did Allah place fingers in it?

The Shaykh : If we were asked, "Does He have fingers?" we would say to the questioner: You are an innovator. Join one lip to the other and do not ask why? Because those who are better than you, more knowledgeable than you, more fearful of Allah than you, more pious than you, more loving of knowledge than you, and more reverent toward Allah than you did not ask their Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—who was receiving revelation—whether the man of Allah has fingers or not. And you, why did you ask? Do you love Allah more, or do you love knowing the attributes of Allah more, hoping for an increase in rank and the expiation of sins, or what? If you say, "Yes," we say: You are not more deserving of this than the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And if you say it out of pedantry, deep inquiry, and affectation, we say: The pedants are destroyed, the pedants are destroyed, the pedants are destroyed. Be silent about this; what sufficed the righteous Salaf suffices you. And in this way, my brothers, we are relieved of many objections that Satan brings to our hearts, or that some of us bring to one another: "What is the manner? What is the attribute? What is the thing you are asking about?" If it is not mentioned in the Sunnah or in the speech of the Companions, turn away from it as an obligation. Do not bring it upon yourself, and do not bring it upon others, so that you may follow the path of the Salaf, and so that you may be at ease and safe. Why did Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), and before him his teacher Rabi'ah, say that asking about it is an innovation? Meaning, ask, or meaning, stop? Stop with this. And the truth is that what harmed the people of Kalam (theologians) was this pedantry and this deep inquiry. This is what harmed them. Otherwise, if they had taken the religion in its apparent form, its sweetness, its pleasantness, its ease, and its simplicity, these questions and these estimations would not have arisen in them. So, if anyone asks us, "Does the foot have fingers?" we say: This is an innovation. Hold your tongue. Those who are better than you did not ask about it regarding those who are better than them. If this knowledge were part of the religion in this way, Allah the Mighty and Majestic would not have neglected it. If this were part of the religion, Allah would have clarified it in His Book or in the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), either initially, or as an answer to a question, or as an approval from a speaker. The religion cannot ever be deficient. Therefore, if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not speak about something, Allah the Mighty and Majestic made it easy for an Arab from the desert to come and ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). That is why the Companions were happy when an Arab from the desert came to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So why do we speak? Does not what sufficed the first ones suffice us? Yes, by Allah, they are more pious toward Allah than we are, more knowledgeable about Allah than we are, and more polite with Allah than we are. Do you not know that if you ask, "Does Allah have fingers in His foot?" Do you not know that Allah hears you? Yes. If a king from the kings of this world, wearing a robe that covers his foot, would it be fitting for you to step in front of him, O King, and ask, "Do you have fingers in your foot?" No, absolutely not. You would not be safe. You would see that this is contrary to proper conduct. And you do not show proper conduct with Allah. Therefore, I advise myself and you in these matters to estimate that Allah is above what you imagine and above what the mind narrows down. If the eyes, which are a sensory perception, and what is perceived by sight is a sensory perception, do not perceive Allah, then the minds are the same. Indeed, Allah the Exalted said: So why do you estimate? I am amazed that a young man or a student of knowledge brings to me the question: How does Allah descend to the lowest heaven in the last third of the night, and the last third of the night in every part of the world? Is this proper conduct? Do you want to lie about the Messenger? Do you want to deny this attribute of Allah? Do you want to make this attribute occur at all times? And Allah has limited it to the last third of the night. All of this: Does Allah not want what He wants? The person is either ignorant or weak in faith. These are matters in which the mind has absolutely no entry. And this great harm did not befall the theologians until they denied the attributes of Allah, or most of them, except for these assertions. They said: This is not reasonable; the mind does not perceive it. So, cross it out. And among that is what we are in now: the foot. The foot. The theologians said: It is not possible for Allah to have a foot. It is a name for one of our bodies. Meaning, the name "foot" for us is part of the body. The name "foot" for Allah—we do not say it is part of Allah. We show proper conduct with Allah the Mighty and Majestic. We say: His foot is a reality, an attribute from His descriptive attributes in which the mind has no entry, and it is not a conceptual meaning that the mind can perceive in general. So it is merely a report that we believe in for the sake of the report. They say: It is not possible for Allah to have a foot; it is impossible. And the one who says that Allah has a foot is a person who ascribes a body to Allah, a disbeliever. I seek refuge in Allah. A person who ascribes a body to Allah, a disbeliever. They said: Yes, everyone who believes that Allah has a body is a disbeliever, and whoever believes that Allah has a real foot has ascribed a body to Him, so he is a disbeliever. And for that reason, they call the people of the Sunnah "the people of likening." And whoever likens Allah to His creation is a disbeliever. Well, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: His foot, and some of it contracts into some of it. And he was speaking in clear Arabic, addressing the most eloquent of the Arabs in their time and in other times. The Companions, who knew the Arabic language by both religious and linguistic convention, and yet none of them denied this word or distorted it from its meaning. Rather, they said: We heard and we obeyed, and we believed and we had faith. They say that the theologians, when they denied this with their corrupt minds and their distance from the reality of complete submission to Allah—because the reality of complete submission to Allah is believing the report even if the mind finds it unlikely, and obeying the command even if the mind does not know its wisdom—this is the true submission. They said: His foot means the foremost of the creation, meaning those who were brought forward to the Fire. So that the Lord of the Worlds places His foot in it, meaning that He adds other people to it, and some of it contracts into some of it. And this is a distortion. If He adds others to it, some of it does not contract into some of it, but the people pile up on top of one another, but the Fire remains as it is. The verse says: "Some of it contracts into some of it." And they said that what contracts is the Fire; it joins itself. And does it join if people are put into it, or does it expand? Answer: It expands. But those in it become cramped. Then what made us estimate this estimation? If these people are from the people of the Fire, there is no need to ask the Fire, "Have you been filled or not?" If they are from the people of the Fire, they are from its people; it is filled or not filled. And if they are not from the people of the Fire, then they do not deserve to enter for the sake of what the Fire has. Well, we said there is another word in the hadith: His leg. They said: Leg. I seek refuge in Allah. Allah has a leg? This is ascribing a body to Allah and disbelief, which is forbidden. Well, what is the meaning of "leg"? They said: "Leg" means a group, because in the hadith meaning a group of locusts. And when people are asked, "Are there many locusts in the place?" they say, "No, by Allah, just a leg," meaning a small group. So the meaning of "His leg" is His group. Glory be to Allah. A group, when thrown into the Fire, some of it contracts into some of it. Then who is the group that deserves to be added to Allah with a special addition? Because the evil one—and this is a useful matter—the evil one is not added to Allah with a special addition. I say: Allah created the two worlds. What is included in it? Everything is included in it, the good and the evil. But it is not proper conduct for me to say that Allah created the dog, except in response to one who denies that Allah created the dog. Yes, I say: As for adding the creation of Allah to something evil, this is forbidden. It is not fitting, even if it is included in the general, because there is a difference between the general and the specific, even among the common people now. If I say to the king, "You eat food," meaning everything that is eaten is included in this. But if you say about him, "You eat the burnt loaf," what would he say? Bad conduct. He might say, "Put him in prison." So there is a difference between specifying and generalizing. And the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah pointed to this regarding creation. If we do not say in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): What do we say? We say: It is a real foot that is fitting for Allah, and we do not go beyond that. We do not say fingers, or that it has no fingers, or the like. We do not speak about it. We restrict ourselves to what we heard and do not address what was not transmitted to us. As for the rest of the hadith, it contains an explanation that Allah the Exalted, as He mentioned about Himself in the Qudsi hadith: remains in Paradise a surplus from those who entered it. And the one who enters it from the children of Adam is one out of a thousand. But the one out of a thousand has a palace long and wide, a journey of two thousand years. He looks at its farthest point as he looks at its nearest point, except that this Paradise is as wide as the heavens and the earth. And whoever perceives the width of the heavens and the earth, no one perceives it except Allah. It is a vast, great arena. Its people enter it, and a surplus remains in it. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic has promised to fill it, and He is the most faithful of those who make promises. So a surplus remains in it. He says: At that time, Allah will create new groups and put them into Paradise without any deed, but by His grace and mercy. And the people of the Fire are in the Fire; no one who deserves eternal abode in the Fire is taken out until He settles them in the rest of the Paradise. It is not that the Fire is closed on its people, and I seek refuge in Allah from it, but Allah creates for the Paradise groups in order to fill this surplus. And He does not say to the Paradise, "Draw near to one another until you are filled with those in it," but Allah creates for it groups. And this is the verification of His saying: Allah is the Greatest. And if not for the forbearance of Allah, no one would remain on the face of the earth.