The text of the statement we published in the Saudi magazine al-Da'wah: In issue 911, issued on Monday, corresponding to 4/1/1404 AH, the author said
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The reader: "Comment: The presence of Allah with His creation. The text of the statement we published in the Saudi magazine al-Da'wah.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, seek His forgiveness, and turn to Him in repentance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves".
The Shaykh : The phrase "and we turn to You in repentance"—we have alerted you to it, and it is not found in the hadith, but we took it from the words of the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) who mention it. However, if it is not mentioned, it is better to omit it. Yes. To alert you, meaning to omit it so that it is not said. As for what is written, it remains as it is written. Yes.
The reader: "We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. May Allah send blessings and peace upon him, his family, his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence, and peace be upon them abundantly.
As for what follows: We had spoken in some of our gatherings about the meaning of the presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation. Some people understood from that what was not our intention and not our belief. Consequently, people asked and inquired much about what is said regarding the presence of Allah with His creation?
And we:
A - So that no one who errs or makes a mistake believes in the presence of Allah what is not befitting Him".
The Shaykh : The one who errs is the one who commits a mistake without knowledge, and the one who makes a mistake is the one who commits it with knowledge. Yes.
The reader: "B - So that no one who speaks about us attributes to us what we did not say, or that no one who is deluded imagines in what we say what we did not intend.
C - And to clarify the meaning of this great attribute by which Allah described Himself in several verses of the Qur'an and by which He described His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). We affirm the following:
First: The presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation is established by the Book and the Sunnah, and by the consensus of the Salaf. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hadid 57:4] And He said: [An-Nahl 16:128] And He said to Musa and Harun when He sent them to Pharaoh: [Taha 20:46] And He said about His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): [At-Tawbah 9:40] And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah graded it as hasan (good) in al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah, and some scholars of knowledge weakened it. Recently, we mentioned what Allah the Exalted said about His Prophet regarding the affirmation of His presence with him.
And the Salaf agreed upon affirming the presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation".
The Shaykh : This requires a clear comment.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, seek His forgiveness, and turn to Him in repentance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves".
The Shaykh : The phrase "and we turn to You in repentance"—we have alerted you to it, and it is not found in the hadith, but we took it from the words of the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) who mention it. However, if it is not mentioned, it is better to omit it. Yes. To alert you, meaning to omit it so that it is not said. As for what is written, it remains as it is written. Yes.
The reader: "We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. May Allah send blessings and peace upon him, his family, his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence, and peace be upon them abundantly.
As for what follows: We had spoken in some of our gatherings about the meaning of the presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation. Some people understood from that what was not our intention and not our belief. Consequently, people asked and inquired much about what is said regarding the presence of Allah with His creation?
And we:
A - So that no one who errs or makes a mistake believes in the presence of Allah what is not befitting Him".
The Shaykh : The one who errs is the one who commits a mistake without knowledge, and the one who makes a mistake is the one who commits it with knowledge. Yes.
The reader: "B - So that no one who speaks about us attributes to us what we did not say, or that no one who is deluded imagines in what we say what we did not intend.
C - And to clarify the meaning of this great attribute by which Allah described Himself in several verses of the Qur'an and by which He described His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). We affirm the following:
First: The presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation is established by the Book and the Sunnah, and by the consensus of the Salaf. Allah the Exalted said:
and He is with you wherever you are
وهو معكم أين ماكنتمIndeed, Allah is with those who fear Him and those who are doers of good.
إن الله مع الذين اتقوا والذين هم محسنونFear not. Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see.
لا تخافا إنني معكما أسمع وأرىIf you do not aid the Prophet - Allah has already aided him when those who disbelieved had driven him out [of Makkah] as one of two, when they were in the cave and he said to his companion, "Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us."
إلا تنصروه فقد نصره الله إذ أخرجه الذين كفروا ثاني اثنين إذ هما في الغار إذ يقول لصاحبه لا تحزن إن الله معناThe best of faith is that you know that Allah is with you wherever you are
أفضل الإيمان أن تعلم أن الله معك حيثما كنتAnd the Salaf agreed upon affirming the presence of Allah the Exalted with His creation".
The Shaykh : This requires a clear comment.