The benefits of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Those who argue about the verses of Allah without any authority… it is a great abhorrence with Allah and with those who believe…”

In this verse there are benefits. .
And among the benefits of this noble verse: that not every person who argues to refute the truth and expose falsehood has any authority, as is taken from His saying: .
And among its benefits is the strengthening of the hearts of those who argue with the truth, because you know that argumentation comes from two sides. The one who argues about the verses of Allah to invalidate them has no proof, while the opposing party has a proof. So when the one who seeks to establish the truth and invalidate falsehood knows that his opponent has no authority, his heart will be strengthened and his steadfastness will increase.
It is derived from this by way of implication that the one who argues about the verses of Allah to establish them will have authority and strength with him.
But can everyone who has a proof use it? No, one may not be able to. He knows he is right but cannot argue with it. Therefore, a person should know the falsehood held by people so that he can be able to refute them. As for one who does not read the falsehood and says, “I am capable of defending against any falsehood that comes to me,” this may cause a person to be defeated in a place where he should have won. So a person must know the falsehood in order to refute it. This is why we see the verified scholars read the books of logicians and philosophers and others, and then they refute them. This is only for a man whose feet are firmly planted in knowledge. As for a man who has just begun as a student, we do not advise him to read the books of the people of misguidance, because he does not have the strength to resist, and we fear he will be affected by these books and become misguided. But for the one firmly planted in knowledge, we say: read so that you know how to refute these people.
And among the benefits of the noble verse: that one who argues with the truth is not blameworthy, as He said: , for if they had authority, they would have been right, but they have no authority.
And among the benefits of the noble verse: the establishment of abhorrence for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and that it varies in degree, so that His abhorrence for a person or a group is greater than His abhorrence for another person or group, as is taken from His saying: .
Is this abhorrence real, or is it intended to mean its necessary consequence, which is punishment? The first. This is the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community, who say that everything by which Allah has described Himself is in its reality. But we must know that it does not resemble the attributes of the created beings, because Allah has affirmed and negated, saying: . Take this as a serious principle and follow it in everything by which Allah has described Himself. Do not say: “This is not intended in its apparent meaning.” Everything by which Allah has described Himself is intended in its apparent meaning, but it is purified from resembling the created beings. So Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, abhors, hates, dislikes, and loves truly, in its reality, but it does not resemble the attributes of the created beings.
And the people of denial, who judge Allah by their minds rather than by His speech and the speech of His Messenger, went to the extent of saying that such descriptions must necessarily be interpreted to mean their necessary consequences. They say, for example: “Abhorrence means taking revenge and punishment, not hatred or dislike or something stronger than that.” It is said to them: If you interpret that as punishment, you have committed two dangers:
The first danger: taking the speech of Allah away from its apparent meaning.
And the second danger: establishing a meaning that is not intended.
And so, we say that every one who distorts has committed two dangers:
The first: taking the speech away from its apparent meaning, and this is a crime without doubt, where the word is deprived of its meaning. And the second: establishing a meaning that is not intended by the word, and this is also an aggression. So every one who interprets commits these two dangers.
And the wonder is that they call themselves the people of interpretation, whereas the truth is that they are the people of distortion. But they named themselves with this name to soften what they are upon of falsehood, because interpretation can mean truth and can mean falsehood. If we interpret the speech with what the speaker intended, that is truth, but the opposite of that is falsehood, and this is what they are upon. But they turned away from the name of distortion to the name of interpretation. Look at the precision of the phrase of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) in al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah, where he said: “without distortion or denial”, and he did not say: “without interpretation,” even though most of those who speak about creeds or write about creeds say: “without interpretation.” But what he said is the correct one, because every interpretation that is not indicated by the evidence is distortion. Good.
So we establish for Allah that He abhors, dislikes, and hates truly, in its reality. And as for punishment, it is a necessary consequence of that. For this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) and others said: “If you establish that Allah punishes, you have established that Allah dislikes by way of necessity, for He does not punish except one whom He dislikes. It is not possible to punish one whom He loves. So when you fled from establishing dislike or abhorrence, you fell into it from another angle. We say: If you establish punishment, there is no punishment except after abhorrence and dislike. This is a necessary matter, because it is not possible for one who loves a person to stand up and hit him. Good.
Among the benefits of the noble verse: the establishment of the “withness” (indaniyyah) for Allah: . Then the “withness” is of two types:
A “withness” of description, and a “withness” of nearness. So the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: is a “withness” of nearness, and His saying here: is a “withness” of description, because abhorrence is not a separate thing distinct from Allah such that it would be a “withness” of nearness. Rather, this is a “withness” of description, just as you say to a person: “You are honored with me,” saying it while he is far from you, and the meaning is not that you are honored with me meaning you are near. This is a “withness” of description, meaning that your honor is established with me.
And among the benefits of the noble verse: that what Allah dislikes, the believers dislike, as He said: . And this is a sign of faith. Take it as a measure and a scale of justice. Whenever you see in yourself that you dislike what Allah dislikes and love what Allah loves, that is faith. This verse and other verses and hadiths indicate this, and reason also indicates it, because the perfection of love and faith is that you love what the one you love loves and dislike what he dislikes.
And among the benefits of this noble verse: the virtue of faith, where the believer revolves with Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in loving what He loves and disliking what He dislikes.