In His saying: "Then He rose up to the heavens," is it correct to interpret it as "He ascended and intended"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : His saying, the Exalted: Ibn Kathir adopted this view. Why do we not say that its meaning is "He ascended and intended," so that "istawa" remains in its original sense and becomes...?
The Shaykh : No, that is not possible, because if you say "istawa" means "ascended" and "ila" indicates the goal, then before this, where was He? This does not make sense.
Then He rose above the heaven
ثم استوى إلى السماءThe Shaykh : No, that is not possible, because if you say "istawa" means "ascended" and "ila" indicates the goal, then before this, where was He? This does not make sense.