Explanation of the author's statement: "And as for the two groups who said: [the attributes] are to be interpreted contrary to their apparent meaning, and who denied that Allah has affirmative attributes
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The Shaykh : We now move on to the two groups who said that [the attributes] are to be interpreted contrary to their apparent meaning, and who denied that Allah has affirmative attributes, or who denied some of the attributes and affirmed states, yes, they denied some of the attributes, or affirmed states instead of attributes.
Pay attention. Those who said that [the attributes] are to be interpreted contrary to their apparent meaning, and who denied that Allah has affirmative attributes, said: It is not possible for Allah to have affirmative attributes; rather, all His attributes are negative. They said: We do not say that Allah has hearing, but we say: He is not deaf. We do not say that Allah has knowledge, but we say: He is not ignorant. We do not say that Allah has power, but we say: He is not incapable.
Why? They said: Because if we affirmed the affirmative attributes, we would liken Him to existing things, and that is likening Allah to creation, and likening Allah to creation is forbidden.
We say to them: And the negative attributes? Denial is non-existence. So if you deny [the attributes], to what do you liken Him? To non-existent things.
For this reason, some of them resorted to adhering to this [position], and said: We deny both affirmation and denial regarding Him, so we do not say He is All-Hearing, nor do we say He is not All-Hearing. We do not say this or that, nor that He is existent, nor that He is not existent.
And of course, this is contrary to reason and self-contradictory.
The important point is that among them are those who deny the affirmative attributes. For this reason, when they want to describe Allah with the greatest attributes in their view, they say: Allah is not dead, not ignorant, not incapable, not weak, not deaf, not blind, and so on, and so on, and they bring forth the negative attributes.
And it is well known that the affirmative attributes are more perfect. For this reason, if you came to a king and said to him: What Allah willed, Blessed and Exalted is He, you are not a garbage collector, not a beggar, not a butcher, not a builder, yes? Not a mechanic, and so on, not a sweeper, and so forth, what would he say to you? Would he give you a prize or not? Yes, he would give him a prize, but [in reality] it would be prison and a slap in the face.
But if you came to him and said: What Allah willed, you are a strong, powerful, intelligent, and rational king, and so on, yes? Would you receive his prize or not? Because the latter are affirmative attributes, and the former are negative attributes, attributes of denial. The strange thing is that these people consider the perfection of Allah to be described with negative attributes, may Allah protect us from that, well, this is a statement.
They denied some of the attributes, like whom? Like which groups? Like the Asha'irah, who denied some of the attributes and affirmed some.
They affirmed states instead of attributes, the Mu'tazilah, and also the Asha'irah. What does "states" mean? They said: For example, Allah is All-Hearing, but the meaning is not that He has hearing, but He is the Possessor of hearing, He is the Possessor of hearing, meaning: His state is to be All-Hearing, but you want to affirm, yes? That He has hearing, no. So say He is the Possessor of hearing, and the meaning is not that He is described with hearing. So they say Allah is All-Knowing, and His being All-Knowing is the state, but that He has knowledge, no.
And there is no doubt that this is a contradiction, because no person says that his being knowledgeable except that he is described with knowledge. These people say, they are two groups.
Pay attention. Those who said that [the attributes] are to be interpreted contrary to their apparent meaning, and who denied that Allah has affirmative attributes, said: It is not possible for Allah to have affirmative attributes; rather, all His attributes are negative. They said: We do not say that Allah has hearing, but we say: He is not deaf. We do not say that Allah has knowledge, but we say: He is not ignorant. We do not say that Allah has power, but we say: He is not incapable.
Why? They said: Because if we affirmed the affirmative attributes, we would liken Him to existing things, and that is likening Allah to creation, and likening Allah to creation is forbidden.
We say to them: And the negative attributes? Denial is non-existence. So if you deny [the attributes], to what do you liken Him? To non-existent things.
For this reason, some of them resorted to adhering to this [position], and said: We deny both affirmation and denial regarding Him, so we do not say He is All-Hearing, nor do we say He is not All-Hearing. We do not say this or that, nor that He is existent, nor that He is not existent.
And of course, this is contrary to reason and self-contradictory.
The important point is that among them are those who deny the affirmative attributes. For this reason, when they want to describe Allah with the greatest attributes in their view, they say: Allah is not dead, not ignorant, not incapable, not weak, not deaf, not blind, and so on, and so on, and they bring forth the negative attributes.
And it is well known that the affirmative attributes are more perfect. For this reason, if you came to a king and said to him: What Allah willed, Blessed and Exalted is He, you are not a garbage collector, not a beggar, not a butcher, not a builder, yes? Not a mechanic, and so on, not a sweeper, and so forth, what would he say to you? Would he give you a prize or not? Yes, he would give him a prize, but [in reality] it would be prison and a slap in the face.
But if you came to him and said: What Allah willed, you are a strong, powerful, intelligent, and rational king, and so on, yes? Would you receive his prize or not? Because the latter are affirmative attributes, and the former are negative attributes, attributes of denial. The strange thing is that these people consider the perfection of Allah to be described with negative attributes, may Allah protect us from that, well, this is a statement.
They denied some of the attributes, like whom? Like which groups? Like the Asha'irah, who denied some of the attributes and affirmed some.
They affirmed states instead of attributes, the Mu'tazilah, and also the Asha'irah. What does "states" mean? They said: For example, Allah is All-Hearing, but the meaning is not that He has hearing, but He is the Possessor of hearing, He is the Possessor of hearing, meaning: His state is to be All-Hearing, but you want to affirm, yes? That He has hearing, no. So say He is the Possessor of hearing, and the meaning is not that He is described with hearing. So they say Allah is All-Knowing, and His being All-Knowing is the state, but that He has knowledge, no.
And there is no doubt that this is a contradiction, because no person says that his being knowledgeable except that he is described with knowledge. These people say, they are two groups.