The methodology of the people of innovation in dealing with the texts of the attributes and the response to them.
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The Shaykh : ... He is the Ancient, so whoever affirms something ancient is an associate of partners with Allah. They said: If we affirm for Allah an attribute, such as hearing, and say that Allah has always been Hearing, does that mean we have affirmed an ancient, eternal attribute? If we affirm an eternal attribute, it necessitates that we affirm two ancient things: Allah and hearing. If we affirm sight, it becomes: Allah, hearing, and sight. If we affirm power, it becomes: Allah, hearing, sight, and power. If we affirm knowledge, it becomes five, and so on. They claim that you refuted the Christians when they said that Allah is the third of three, but you have made Allah five hundred. So if you affirm an ancient attribute for Allah, you have made equals for Allah, and Allah says: [Al-Baqarah 2:22] See how Satan has played with them.
They also said that affirming the attributes is likening Allah to creation, and it is inevitable, because the attributes are accidents, and an accident cannot exist except in a body, and bodies are similar. Do you understand? The attributes are accidents, correct? A person may be healthy today and deaf in the morning, so the attributes, they say, are accidents, and an accident does not subsist except in a body, and bodies are similar. So if you affirm attributes for Allah, you have likened Him to creation. How? They said: This color, the attributes do not subsist except as accidents in bodies, and bodies are similar. Can we respond to them? We say: Your claim that the attributes do not subsist except in bodies is a lie. The attributes can subsist in what is not a body. We say, "This is a long day," and we describe it with length, and it is not a body, correct? And we say, "The heat is intense," and we describe the heat with intensity, and it is not a body. So the first premise is refuted. The second premise, that bodies are similar, is this correct? It is not correct. Everyone knows that bodies are not similar. I do not think anyone says that a hard stone is like butter, or? Are they all the same? They are different. No one says that a camel is like a grain of sand, is that not so? Yes, indeed. So your claim that bodies are similar is strange, and this is a false claim. Look at these "intellectuals" who call themselves intellectuals and claim to be people of reason. If the two premises are refuted, the conclusion is refuted, which is their claim that affirming the attributes necessitates likening Allah to creation.
As for the first doubt, they say... We say: Glory to Allah the Great. If we make the multiplicity of attributes imply the multiplicity of the described, do you now have hearing?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : How many does that make? Two. You have sight, making it three. This means if you call four people... correct or not? How many attributes do four people have? For example, they have fifty or sixty attributes. This means that if... four people, if we want to say that the attribute equals the described, it means we have made every person a hundred... And no one doubts the falsity of this. And the more a person reads such misguidance, he says, Glory to Allah the Great, that Allah turns the hearts of these people until they reach this level, while they claim to be the intellectuals. This is the problem. In any case, we say this is of the ambiguous (mutashabih) that is followed by those who do not follow the guidance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Is it clear now?
We give another example regarding non-innovators. A man from the Christians said: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is a messenger, but he was sent only to the Arabs. What is the evidence? He said: The evidence is from the Qur'an:[Al-Jumu'ah 62:2] [Al-Jumu'ah 62:2] and so on. So who are the unlettered? The Arabs, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: We said to them: Yes, this verse is clear regarding the unlettered, but Jesus (peace be upon him), your prophet, said: [As-Saf 61:6] They said: Okay, that is correct, but this is Muhammad, not Ahmad. So Ahmad has not come yet. We are waiting for Ahmad, and this messenger Muhammad is not him. Is it clear? Is it a doubt or not? It is a doubt, but we will respond to all of it, if Allah wills. But the point is that they follow the ambiguous. That is, if a Christian... and indeed, unfortunately, some of our youth... the cunning Christians do this to them, and they say such things to them, confusing them. This is why the question about this issue arises. We said to them: Okay, the word of Allah the Exalted in Surat al-A'raf: [Al-A'raf 7:156-157] The word "people" with them: [Al-A'raf 7:157-158] Is this clear or not? Is there ambiguity in it? There is no ambiguity. So the ambiguous from the two previous verses is interpreted by this clear (muhkam) verse. The Christian may say to you: "People" is a general term intended to mean a specific group. [Ali 'Imran 3:173] And only Abu Sufyan and his group gathered for them. Is there ambiguity or not? There is ambiguity. We say to him: This ambiguity you mentioned in this verse, which is clear, is refuted by the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-A'raf 7:158] All of it is general, and the generality is confirmed by the totality, so it is not possible that some of it is intended. For this reason, the scholars of rhetoric say: Confirmation negates the possibility of metaphor. We cannot interpret "people" as some of them. Then we respond to them from another angle that Allah says: [Al-A'raf 7:157] And this is an explicit text, because the Torah and the Gospel are not with the Arabs. With whom? With the Children of Israel, the Jews and the Christians. They have it in the Torah and the Gospel. So the possibility that the verse does not include the Jews and the Christians is refuted, and the verse in this regard is extremely clear. We are left with the two previous verses. Upon reflection, there is no doubt in them, because the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Jumu'ah 62:2] Allah mentioned after it: [Al-Jumu'ah 62:3] Many of the exegetes said: The intended meaning is the Persians and the Romans. Also, "sent among the unlettered" means that the first of his sending was from the unlettered, and among the unlettered. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not conquer anything in his time except the Arabian Peninsula. Sham, Egypt, and Iraq were not conquered. It was only the Peninsula. So where did the message first emerge? From the Arabian Peninsula.
And as for his saying:[As-Saf 61:6] and their likening that Ahmad is not Muhammad, the answer to this is from two angles. The first angle: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has multiple names, including Ahmad and Muhammad. But the name Ahmad was chosen in the Gospel, or on the tongue of Jesus, because it is more eloquent than the word Muhammad. Because Ahmad, as you know, is a name of superlative, and it is suitable to be derived from the active participle and the passive participle. That is, he is the most praiseworthy of people to his Lord, and he is the most deserving of people to be praised. So in this, the perfection of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is manifested, is it not? Does Ahmad mean the most praiseworthy of people to his Lord, or does it mean the most deserving of people to be praised? Both meanings. That is, it is formed from the name of the doer and the name of the done. So he is the most praiseworthy of people, and he is the most deserving of praise, (peace and blessings be upon him). And this name was chosen to manifest his excellence among the Children of Israel. Then we say: The verse is explicit that this prophet Ahmad has come, because Allah said: [As-Saf 61:6] So has Ahmad come or not? He has come. So their claim that Ahmad has not come yet is a lie. We say Ahmad has come. And it is known that you say there is no prophet after Jesus. If you say there is no prophet after Jesus, then this Muhammad is the one who has come, so he is the one intended by the verse. And at that time, the verse is not of the ambiguous, nor is the verse of the Friday prayer. If you insist that it is of the ambiguous, we say it is interpreted by the verse that has no ambiguity, which is the verse of al-A'raf. Yes.
One of our youth told me that a Christian came to him and said: We do not have any mention of Muhammad in the Torah and the Gospel... that your books are distorted... the Christians attacked us... meaning like this... And this is the secret in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1606Sahih (Darussalam) So the important thing is that... but Muhammad... (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in Surat al-A'raf more than twenty texts indicating the glad tidings in the Torah and the Gospel of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
So do not attribute to Allah equals
فلا تجعلوا لله أنداداThey also said that affirming the attributes is likening Allah to creation, and it is inevitable, because the attributes are accidents, and an accident cannot exist except in a body, and bodies are similar. Do you understand? The attributes are accidents, correct? A person may be healthy today and deaf in the morning, so the attributes, they say, are accidents, and an accident does not subsist except in a body, and bodies are similar. So if you affirm attributes for Allah, you have likened Him to creation. How? They said: This color, the attributes do not subsist except as accidents in bodies, and bodies are similar. Can we respond to them? We say: Your claim that the attributes do not subsist except in bodies is a lie. The attributes can subsist in what is not a body. We say, "This is a long day," and we describe it with length, and it is not a body, correct? And we say, "The heat is intense," and we describe the heat with intensity, and it is not a body. So the first premise is refuted. The second premise, that bodies are similar, is this correct? It is not correct. Everyone knows that bodies are not similar. I do not think anyone says that a hard stone is like butter, or? Are they all the same? They are different. No one says that a camel is like a grain of sand, is that not so? Yes, indeed. So your claim that bodies are similar is strange, and this is a false claim. Look at these "intellectuals" who call themselves intellectuals and claim to be people of reason. If the two premises are refuted, the conclusion is refuted, which is their claim that affirming the attributes necessitates likening Allah to creation.
As for the first doubt, they say... We say: Glory to Allah the Great. If we make the multiplicity of attributes imply the multiplicity of the described, do you now have hearing?
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : How many does that make? Two. You have sight, making it three. This means if you call four people... correct or not? How many attributes do four people have? For example, they have fifty or sixty attributes. This means that if... four people, if we want to say that the attribute equals the described, it means we have made every person a hundred... And no one doubts the falsity of this. And the more a person reads such misguidance, he says, Glory to Allah the Great, that Allah turns the hearts of these people until they reach this level, while they claim to be the intellectuals. This is the problem. In any case, we say this is of the ambiguous (mutashabih) that is followed by those who do not follow the guidance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Is it clear now?
We give another example regarding non-innovators. A man from the Christians said: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is a messenger, but he was sent only to the Arabs. What is the evidence? He said: The evidence is from the Qur'an:
It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves
هو الذي بعث في الأميين رسولا منهمamong the unlettered a Messenger from themselves
في الأميين رسولا منهمWe are an illiterate nation; we do not read and we do not write.
إنّا أمة أمية لا نقرأ ولا نكتبO children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.
يا بني إسرائيل إني رسول الله إليكم مصدقا لما بين يدي من التوراة ومبشرا برسول يأتي من بعدي اسمه أحمدSo I will decree it [especially] for those who fear Me and give zakah and those who believe in Our verses - (157) Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written
فسأكتبها للذين يتقون ويؤتون الزكاة والذين هم بآياتنا يؤمنون الذين يتبعون الرسول النبي الأمي الذي يجدونه مكتوبا عندهم(157) Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and forbids them what is wrong and makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful. (158) Say, [O Muhammad], "O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, [from Him] to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. There is no deity except Him; He gives life and causes death." So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered prophet, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him that you may be guided.
في التوراة والإنجيل يأمرهم بالمعروف وينهاهم عن المنكر ويحل لهم الطيبات ويحرم عليهم الخبائث ويضع عنهم إصرهم والأغلال التي كانت عليهم فالذين آمنوا به وعزروه ونصروه واتبعوا النور الذي أنزل معه أولئك هم المؤمنون قل يا أيها الناس إني رسول الله إليكم جميعا الذي له ملك السماوات والأرض لا إله إلا هو يحي ويميت فآمنوا بالله ورسوله النبي الأمي الذي يؤمن بالله وكلماتهThose to whom hypocrites said, "Indeed, the people have gathered against you
الذين قال لهم الناس إن الناس قد جمعوا لكمSay, [O Muhammad], "O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all
قل يا أيها الناس إني رسول الله إليكم جميعاwhom they find written in what they have
الذي يجدونه مكتوبا عندهمIt is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves
هو الذي بعث في الأميين رسولا منهمAnd [to] others of them who have not yet joined them. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
وآخرين منهم لما يلحقوا بهم وهو العزيز الحكيمAnd as for his saying:
and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.
ومبشرا برسول يأتي من بعدي اسمه أحمدand bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences
ومبشرا برسول يأتي من بعدي اسمه أحمد فلما جاءهم بالبيناتOne of our youth told me that a Christian came to him and said: We do not have any mention of Muhammad in the Torah and the Gospel... that your books are distorted... the Christians attacked us... meaning like this... And this is the secret in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):