And we believe in Him: << لو كان البحر مداد لكلمات ربي لنفد البحر قبل أن تنفد كلمات ربي >> [Surat al-Kahf
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The Shaykh :"And we believe in Him [Al-Kahf 18:109] [Luqman 31:27]" This is an explanation of the greatness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His speech. [Al-Kahf 18:109] The ink is what the pen is written with. [Al-Kahf 18:109] Glory be to Allah! The sea, despite its vastness, abundance of water, and depth, will run out before the words of Allah run out, because the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) are eternal, just as His creation is eternal. And when He creates, He has willed it, and when He wills, He says, as Allah the Exalted said: [Ya-Sin 36:82] And He the Exalted said: [Luqman 31:27] Raised, O Yahya, by what? What raised it?
The student: ... pens ... a postponed subject
The Shaykh : A postponed subject
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Wrong, wrong. A little, a little. Who raised his hands? Yes, that is correct.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Allah is the Helper. Where is the object of distinction, O Shaykh? The object of distinction is in the accusative case.
The student: The predicate of "that"
The Shaykh : The predicate of "that." Where is "that"?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Zayn, the verse is authentic. If the trees on earth were pens, here is a relative pronoun, and the writing in it, as you can see, is connected with "in" (inna) via "that" (anna), which is contrary to the current linguistic convention. The current convention is that what is not connected by "that" (anna) is only when it is for restriction; but if it is a relative pronoun, it is disconnected from "that" (anna). So if we were to write this verse according to today's convention, it would be "that" (anna) alone, what?
The student: And "what" alone
The Shaykh : And "what" alone. Its exact counterpart is "whenever." Whenever you make "what" a relative pronoun, you separate it from "every." And if you make "whenever" a conditional particle, you...
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, you connect it to "every." And He says:[Luqman 31:27] Allah is the Greatest. This is greater than the first verse. [Luqman 31:27] That is, by increasing the strength over the first. Ha, ha.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Six...[Luqman 31:27] [Al-Baqarah 2:209]
And this indicates to you the greatness of the Lord (Mighty and Majestic), the multitude of His creations, and His wills (Blessed and Exalted is He). All these verses indicate affirming the attribute of speech for Allah. The summary is that the people of the Sunnah and the community, may Allah make us and you among them and cause us to die upon that, believe that Allah speaks; this is one. And that His speech is His attribute, not His action; this is two. And that His speech is with letters and sound; this is three. And that His speech is sometimes by calling out and sometimes by intimate conversation. Calling out is elevated speech, and intimate conversation is light speech. We believe in all of this.
There are schools of thought regarding the speech of Allah, but we mention two famous ones. The first is the school of the Asha'irah, and the second is the school of the Mu'tazilah. Everyone agreed that the speech, which is the letters and sound, is created. It is created. But the Asha'irah said that it is an expression of the speech of Allah, and the Mu'tazilah said, rather, it is the speech of Allah.
As for the Asha'irah, they said: "Indeed, the speech is the meaning that subsists in the soul, and it does not renew, occur, or change. The command and the prohibition are only differences in form, and they are one in meaning." Their speech is strange nonsense. All of this, all of this, because we ask Allah for well-being and safety and that He not turn our hearts away. They made the reference for the attributes the intellect, not the transmitted texts. That is, the scope of knowledge regarding the attributes of Allah with them is the intellect, while they do not know about the transmitted texts. They say: whatever contradicts the intellect, we do one of two things with it: either we interpret it figuratively or we refer it back. We interpret it figuratively, meaning...
The student: We distort it
The Shaykh : We distort it. But they brought in figurative interpretation as a softening, or we refer it back, saying: we do not know. For example, regarding "He rose above the Throne," they say: this Allah did not rise above the Throne in reality. You must say "rose" means "dominated," or you refer it back, saying: I do not know what its meaning is. Do you understand, people?
Then they say, falsely or ignorantly: "The school of the people of the Sunnah, or the school of the Salaf, is referring back." If you ask a Salafi what is the meaning of, he says: Allah knows best. What is the meaning of ? He says: Allah knows best. What is the meaning of [As-Saffat 37:12]? The wonder that Allah attributed to Himself, he says: Allah knows best. Whose school is this?
The student: ... the Salaf ...
The Shaykh : The school of the Salaf, according to their claim, is the Asha'irah. So they made the Salaf ignorant of the meanings of the names and attributes of Allah, and that the names and attributes, their verses and hadiths, are all in the position of foreign speech to an Arab man now. If one of the foreigners were to repeat words in his language and I do not know his language, would I benefit or not?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : If he repeated it to me, repeated it to me twice, three times, would I benefit?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Never. If he repeated it to me twice or three times, I would not increase in its meaning, in the meaning of his speech, except distance. Well, they say this. They say: all the attributes of Allah, their texts from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, are not known to us, and we do not know what they are. Whose school is this?
The student: The Asha'irah.
The Shaykh : The Salaf, according to the Asha'irah. And they lied in what they said, or they went astray and were ignorant of what is with the Salaf.
The second path regarding the verses of the attributes and their hadiths with the Asha'irah is to proceed with distortion, which they call figurative interpretation. And this is what they proceed with. They proceed with it. They say: all of it, its letter is its defect. They do not say "its letter," they say "its beginning." And figurative interpretation is interpretation. So they interpret, meaning: His command came. His command came. They interpret the mercy of Allah by saying, for example: ... May Allah have mercy on you. May Allah have mercy on you. Guide me. And what does "May Allah have mercy on you" mean? He did good to you, or He intended mercy for you. As for Allah the Exalted being described with mercy, this is impossible. And so on.
These are... two schools now regarding the speech of Allah. The first school is the school of the Mu'tazilah, and the second school is the school of the Asha'irah. And both, as we have established, and I hope you have understood it, both are invalid. And the truth is that we say: Allah speaks whenever He wills, with what He wills, however He wills. And His speech is with letters and sound. And the evidence for that from the Qur'an and the Sunnah is apparent. And it is not for us to control Allah with our intellects.
If the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted
لوكان البحر مدادا لكلمات ربي لنفد البحر قبل أن تنفد كلمات ربيAnd if whatever trees upon the earth were pens and the sea [was ink], replenished thereafter by seven [more] seas, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
ولو أن ما في الأرض من شجرة أقلام والبحر يمده من بعده سبعة أبحر ما نفدت كلمات الله إن الله عزيز حكيمIf the sea were ink for [writing] the words of my Lord
لو كان البحر مدادا لكلمات ربيthe sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted
لنفد البحر قبل أن تنفد كلمات ربيHis command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, "Be," and it is.
إنما أمره إذا أراد شيئا أن يقول له كن فيكونAnd if whatever trees upon the earth were pens
ولو أن ما في الأرض من شجرة أقلامpens
أقلامpens
أقلامThe student: ... pens ... a postponed subject
The Shaykh : A postponed subject
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Wrong, wrong. A little, a little. Who raised his hands? Yes, that is correct.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Allah is the Helper. Where is the object of distinction, O Shaykh? The object of distinction is in the accusative case.
The student: The predicate of "that"
The Shaykh : The predicate of "that." Where is "that"?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Zayn, the verse is authentic. If the trees on earth were pens,
not
ماnot
ماThe student: And "what" alone
The Shaykh : And "what" alone. Its exact counterpart is "whenever." Whenever you make "what" a relative pronoun, you separate it from "every." And if you make "whenever" a conditional particle, you...
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, you connect it to "every." And He says:
and the sea [was ink], replenished thereafter by seven [more] seas
والبحر يمده من بعده سبعة أبحرthe sea [was ink], replenished thereafter by seven [more] seas
البحر يمده من بعده سبعة أبحرThe student: ...
The Shaykh : Six...
the words of Allah would not be exhausted
ما نفدت كلمات اللهAllah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
إن الله عزيز حكيمAnd this indicates to you the greatness of the Lord (Mighty and Majestic), the multitude of His creations, and His wills (Blessed and Exalted is He). All these verses indicate affirming the attribute of speech for Allah. The summary is that the people of the Sunnah and the community, may Allah make us and you among them and cause us to die upon that, believe that Allah speaks; this is one. And that His speech is His attribute, not His action; this is two. And that His speech is with letters and sound; this is three. And that His speech is sometimes by calling out and sometimes by intimate conversation. Calling out is elevated speech, and intimate conversation is light speech. We believe in all of this.
There are schools of thought regarding the speech of Allah, but we mention two famous ones. The first is the school of the Asha'irah, and the second is the school of the Mu'tazilah. Everyone agreed that the speech, which is the letters and sound, is created. It is created. But the Asha'irah said that it is an expression of the speech of Allah, and the Mu'tazilah said, rather, it is the speech of Allah.
As for the Asha'irah, they said: "Indeed, the speech is the meaning that subsists in the soul, and it does not renew, occur, or change. The command and the prohibition are only differences in form, and they are one in meaning." Their speech is strange nonsense. All of this, all of this, because we ask Allah for well-being and safety and that He not turn our hearts away. They made the reference for the attributes the intellect, not the transmitted texts. That is, the scope of knowledge regarding the attributes of Allah with them is the intellect, while they do not know about the transmitted texts. They say: whatever contradicts the intellect, we do one of two things with it: either we interpret it figuratively or we refer it back. We interpret it figuratively, meaning...
The student: We distort it
The Shaykh : We distort it. But they brought in figurative interpretation as a softening, or we refer it back, saying: we do not know. For example, regarding "He rose above the Throne," they say: this Allah did not rise above the Throne in reality. You must say "rose" means "dominated," or you refer it back, saying: I do not know what its meaning is. Do you understand, people?
Then they say, falsely or ignorantly: "The school of the people of the Sunnah, or the school of the Salaf, is referring back." If you ask a Salafi what is the meaning of
He settled upon the Throne
استوى على العرشAnd your Lord has come
وجاء ربكBut you wonder, while they mock,
بل عجبت ويسخرونThe student: ... the Salaf ...
The Shaykh : The school of the Salaf, according to their claim, is the Asha'irah. So they made the Salaf ignorant of the meanings of the names and attributes of Allah, and that the names and attributes, their verses and hadiths, are all in the position of foreign speech to an Arab man now. If one of the foreigners were to repeat words in his language and I do not know his language, would I benefit or not?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : If he repeated it to me, repeated it to me twice, three times, would I benefit?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Never. If he repeated it to me twice or three times, I would not increase in its meaning, in the meaning of his speech, except distance. Well, they say this. They say: all the attributes of Allah, their texts from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, are not known to us, and we do not know what they are. Whose school is this?
The student: The Asha'irah.
The Shaykh : The Salaf, according to the Asha'irah. And they lied in what they said, or they went astray and were ignorant of what is with the Salaf.
The second path regarding the verses of the attributes and their hadiths with the Asha'irah is to proceed with distortion, which they call figurative interpretation. And this is what they proceed with. They proceed with it. They say: all of it, its letter is its defect. They do not say "its letter," they say "its beginning." And figurative interpretation is interpretation. So they interpret
Your Lord will come
جاء ربكThese are... two schools now regarding the speech of Allah. The first school is the school of the Mu'tazilah, and the second school is the school of the Asha'irah. And both, as we have established, and I hope you have understood it, both are invalid. And the truth is that we say: Allah speaks whenever He wills, with what He wills, however He wills. And His speech is with letters and sound. And the evidence for that from the Qur'an and the Sunnah is apparent. And it is not for us to control Allah with our intellects.