Does suspending judgment on ambiguous terms include suspending judgment on their meanings?
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The questioner : Oh Shaykh
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : If someone says that words are the vessels of meanings,
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : the principle is that when we reject a word, we suspend judgment on it.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ... the word and what is built upon it?
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ... it should be ...
The Shaykh : But this meaning is established: that Allah the Exalted is Self-Subsisting, possessing the attributes befitting Him, is that not so?
The questioner : It is established.
The Shaykh : So we affirm it.
The questioner : So we affirm it, but not on the basis that we are compelled to affirm the word.
The Shaykh : But the issue of saying that He is a body, that is what we do not say. We do not say it to avoid the word, because if you say that Allah is a body, or first, that a body, as you know, suggests a false meaning, and anything that suggests a false meaning, Allah is not described with it. Yes, that is right.
The questioner : I mean ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : We say, we accept this praise from you, but it does not indicate that Allah is a body, because fundamentally ...
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right. We do not say it. We reject the word, but they, if they say that Allah is not a body, they mean that He has no essence that possesses attributes. Therefore, the reality of the matter with these deniers of attributes is that Allah Mighty and Majestic is nothing but a meaning among meanings, and not an essence that rises above the Throne, or descends, or comes to judge between His servants. All of this is impossible for them. Therefore, they interpret rising above the Throne as dominion, they interpret descending as the descent of His command, and they interpret coming on the Day of Resurrection as the coming of His command, and the like of that.
The questioner : ... by contradiction ...
The Shaykh : They do not describe us with contradiction, may Allah reward you, because we say that we avoided this word only because it did not come in the texts. Otherwise, the reality of the matter is that if you intend by "body" that it is Self-Subsisting and possessing attributes, we say that He is a body in this meaning. But we do not affirm the word; we only avoid it because it did not come in the texts. And if you intend by "body" in this meaning, then He is a body in this meaning, but we do not utter it; that is, we avoid the word. As for the meaning, we believe in it. And he denies this thing, and therefore they say that attributes do not subsist except in bodies, so we must deny the attributes, as is the method of some of the extremists among the Mu'tazilah.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : If someone says that words are the vessels of meanings,
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : the principle is that when we reject a word, we suspend judgment on it.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ... the word and what is built upon it?
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : ... it should be ...
The Shaykh : But this meaning is established: that Allah the Exalted is Self-Subsisting, possessing the attributes befitting Him, is that not so?
The questioner : It is established.
The Shaykh : So we affirm it.
The questioner : So we affirm it, but not on the basis that we are compelled to affirm the word.
The Shaykh : But the issue of saying that He is a body, that is what we do not say. We do not say it to avoid the word, because if you say that Allah is a body, or first, that a body, as you know, suggests a false meaning, and anything that suggests a false meaning, Allah is not described with it. Yes, that is right.
The questioner : I mean ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : We say, we accept this praise from you, but it does not indicate that Allah is a body, because fundamentally ...
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right. We do not say it. We reject the word, but they, if they say that Allah is not a body, they mean that He has no essence that possesses attributes. Therefore, the reality of the matter with these deniers of attributes is that Allah Mighty and Majestic is nothing but a meaning among meanings, and not an essence that rises above the Throne, or descends, or comes to judge between His servants. All of this is impossible for them. Therefore, they interpret rising above the Throne as dominion, they interpret descending as the descent of His command, and they interpret coming on the Day of Resurrection as the coming of His command, and the like of that.
The questioner : ... by contradiction ...
The Shaykh : They do not describe us with contradiction, may Allah reward you, because we say that we avoided this word only because it did not come in the texts. Otherwise, the reality of the matter is that if you intend by "body" that it is Self-Subsisting and possessing attributes, we say that He is a body in this meaning. But we do not affirm the word; we only avoid it because it did not come in the texts. And if you intend by "body" in this meaning, then He is a body in this meaning, but we do not utter it; that is, we avoid the word. As for the meaning, we believe in it. And he denies this thing, and therefore they say that attributes do not subsist except in bodies, so we must deny the attributes, as is the method of some of the extremists among the Mu'tazilah.