Continuation of the lessons derived from the hadith.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And in this hadith is the affirmation of two of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), indeed more than two: satisfaction and anger, due to His saying, "So Allah was pleased with you." Yes. And in it is the affirmation of will, which is Sahih al-Bukhari 6653 the affirmation of will. Do the people of the Sunnah and the community affirm these attributes in a manner befitting Allah, as reality or as metaphor? As reality. They say, for example, regarding will: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wills, and His will is of two types: cosmic and legislative. Cosmic and legislative. The difference between them is that the cosmic necessitates the occurrence of what is willed, but it does not necessitate that it be beloved to Allah. It may be willed by Him cosmically but not beloved by Him. As for the legislative, it does not necessitate the occurrence of what is willed, but it necessitates that it be beloved to Allah. Did you understand the difference? The difference?
The student: The cosmic necessitates its occurrence... beloved to Allah.
The Shaykh : It necessitates the occurrence of what is willed by it, but it does not necessitate that it be beloved to Allah. Good. And the legislative?
The student: It does not necessitate...
The Shaykh : It does not necessitate the occurrence of what is willed by it, and it necessitates?
The student: That it be beloved.
The Shaykh : That it be beloved to Allah. So if someone asks you: Does Allah will good? Here?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Cosmically or legislatively? The good that occurs is willed by Allah cosmically and legislatively. That means, if a righteous deed occurs, it is willed by Allah cosmically and legislatively. And if it does not occur, it is willed legislatively but not cosmically. And if a bad deed occurs, it is willed by Allah cosmically but not legislatively. And if it does not occur, it is not willed neither legislatively nor cosmically. Clear? Here?
The questioner : I don't understand, Shaykh. I mean, what does cosmically...
The Shaykh : Cosmically means creation and decree, formation, meaning or decree. This means, for example, if a righteous deed occurs, it is willed cosmically and legislatively. That means Allah willed it to be, so it was; this is the cosmic aspect. And legislatively, because it is beloved to Allah. So if it does not occur, it is willed legislatively but not cosmically.
The questioner : Legislatively, how?
The Shaykh : Legislatively, that Allah willed it, that He willed for us to do it, meaning He loves it. So, the bad deed?
The student: Cosmically.
The Shaykh : Let's see. The bad deed, if it occurs, is willed cosmically, not legislatively. Willed cosmically because it occurred; there is no doubt that Allah willed it. Not willed legislatively because Allah does not love it. So if it does not occur, it is not willed cosmically nor legislatively. For this reason, we say the legislative will means love, and the cosmic will means the will of creation, meaning the will of creation. Yes, good.
In it is also the affirmation of satisfaction. Satisfaction, for He was pleased with him. This is found in several verses in the Qur'an. The people of the Sunnah and the community say that satisfaction is one of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), an attribute of Allah in reality, but it is not like the satisfaction of the created. Rather, it is an attribute befitting Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that does not negate wisdom. Unlike the satisfaction of the created; the satisfaction of the created may negate wisdom. If a person, for example, is pleased with someone, his pleasure with him may lead his emotion to be pleased with everything from him and not control himself in his treatment of him due to the intensity of his pleasure with him, or not? For this reason, the poet says:
"And the eye of satisfaction is blind to every flaw, *** Just as the eye of anger reveals the equalities"
But the satisfaction of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not so. Satisfaction is accompanied by wisdom, just as the anger of the created is not like the anger of the Creator. Because the anger of the created may lead him away from wisdom due to the intensity of his anger, whereas the anger of the Creator does not. Good. Similarly, we say that anger is one of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and it is a reality. As for those who interpreted satisfaction as reward or the will to reward, and interpreted anger as punishment or the will to punish, their statement is refuted. How is it refuted? Because according to their view, it would be correct for us to say that Allah is not pleased, or not? Yes. Because they said the meaning of "He was pleased" is "He willed to reward," which means He is not pleased. And we could say that Allah is not angry, and they do not say that. If they said that Allah is not pleased, they would be disbelievers. If they said that Allah is not angry, they would be disbelievers, because they denied what Allah informed about Himself. But they interpreted it figuratively. However, the reality of this interpretation is that it necessitates the possibility of denying satisfaction, because metaphor means denying the reality. And this is a very serious matter. For this reason, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), and before him his Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, in his book "The Faith", may Allah reward them both with good, clarified that there is no metaphor in the Qur'an, rather, there is no metaphor in the entire Arabic language, contrary to those who said that every statement a person makes is metaphor. Every statement, yes. Even if you say "Muhammad said such and such," they say this is metaphor. Yes. "I did such and such," this is metaphor. And everything in the language is metaphor. These are two extremes, but the first extreme, that there is no metaphor in the language, is the truth and the correct position.
And his saying contains evidence that companionship is used for similarity in some aspect, and it does not necessitate that the companionship be concurrent. It does not necessitate, yes. For the companion means the one who resembles this thing. So "companion" here means the one who resembles your state in that Allah the Exalted bestowed upon him after misery, and then what happened from him occurred. Yes, yes.
The questioner : In some of the... meaning they argue, saying that the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah denied all metaphor.
The Shaykh : He denied.
The questioner : Meaning he denied the metaphor I mentioned about him. Everyone repeats this phrase, so they argue that it is not permissible to deny all metaphor... They argue with the verse[Al-Mujadila 58:7]
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : So how do they deal with the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah? It is necessary to...
The Shaykh : No, no. He deals with this.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, absolutely not. It is not metaphor. He says it is reality. He says it is reality... Allah is on the Throne, and it does not necessitate from the reality of presence that Allah be in a place... This moon, we say it is with us, and it is in the sky.
Allah decided to test three people from Bani Isra'il
أراد الله أن يبتليهمThe student: The cosmic necessitates its occurrence... beloved to Allah.
The Shaykh : It necessitates the occurrence of what is willed by it, but it does not necessitate that it be beloved to Allah. Good. And the legislative?
The student: It does not necessitate...
The Shaykh : It does not necessitate the occurrence of what is willed by it, and it necessitates?
The student: That it be beloved.
The Shaykh : That it be beloved to Allah. So if someone asks you: Does Allah will good? Here?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Cosmically or legislatively? The good that occurs is willed by Allah cosmically and legislatively. That means, if a righteous deed occurs, it is willed by Allah cosmically and legislatively. And if it does not occur, it is willed legislatively but not cosmically. And if a bad deed occurs, it is willed by Allah cosmically but not legislatively. And if it does not occur, it is not willed neither legislatively nor cosmically. Clear? Here?
The questioner : I don't understand, Shaykh. I mean, what does cosmically...
The Shaykh : Cosmically means creation and decree, formation, meaning or decree. This means, for example, if a righteous deed occurs, it is willed cosmically and legislatively. That means Allah willed it to be, so it was; this is the cosmic aspect. And legislatively, because it is beloved to Allah. So if it does not occur, it is willed legislatively but not cosmically.
The questioner : Legislatively, how?
The Shaykh : Legislatively, that Allah willed it, that He willed for us to do it, meaning He loves it. So, the bad deed?
The student: Cosmically.
The Shaykh : Let's see. The bad deed, if it occurs, is willed cosmically, not legislatively. Willed cosmically because it occurred; there is no doubt that Allah willed it. Not willed legislatively because Allah does not love it. So if it does not occur, it is not willed cosmically nor legislatively. For this reason, we say the legislative will means love, and the cosmic will means the will of creation, meaning the will of creation. Yes, good.
In it is also the affirmation of satisfaction. Satisfaction, for He was pleased with him. This is found in several verses in the Qur'an. The people of the Sunnah and the community say that satisfaction is one of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), an attribute of Allah in reality, but it is not like the satisfaction of the created. Rather, it is an attribute befitting Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that does not negate wisdom. Unlike the satisfaction of the created; the satisfaction of the created may negate wisdom. If a person, for example, is pleased with someone, his pleasure with him may lead his emotion to be pleased with everything from him and not control himself in his treatment of him due to the intensity of his pleasure with him, or not? For this reason, the poet says:
"And the eye of satisfaction is blind to every flaw, *** Just as the eye of anger reveals the equalities"
But the satisfaction of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not so. Satisfaction is accompanied by wisdom, just as the anger of the created is not like the anger of the Creator. Because the anger of the created may lead him away from wisdom due to the intensity of his anger, whereas the anger of the Creator does not. Good. Similarly, we say that anger is one of the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and it is a reality. As for those who interpreted satisfaction as reward or the will to reward, and interpreted anger as punishment or the will to punish, their statement is refuted. How is it refuted? Because according to their view, it would be correct for us to say that Allah is not pleased, or not? Yes. Because they said the meaning of "He was pleased" is "He willed to reward," which means He is not pleased. And we could say that Allah is not angry, and they do not say that. If they said that Allah is not pleased, they would be disbelievers. If they said that Allah is not angry, they would be disbelievers, because they denied what Allah informed about Himself. But they interpreted it figuratively. However, the reality of this interpretation is that it necessitates the possibility of denying satisfaction, because metaphor means denying the reality. And this is a very serious matter. For this reason, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him), and before him his Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, in his book "The Faith", may Allah reward them both with good, clarified that there is no metaphor in the Qur'an, rather, there is no metaphor in the entire Arabic language, contrary to those who said that every statement a person makes is metaphor. Every statement, yes. Even if you say "Muhammad said such and such," they say this is metaphor. Yes. "I did such and such," this is metaphor. And everything in the language is metaphor. These are two extremes, but the first extreme, that there is no metaphor in the language, is the truth and the correct position.
And his saying
And He was angry with your two companions
وسخط على صاحبيكThe questioner : In some of the... meaning they argue, saying that the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah denied all metaphor.
The Shaykh : He denied.
The questioner : Meaning he denied the metaphor I mentioned about him. Everyone repeats this phrase, so they argue that it is not permissible to deny all metaphor... They argue with the verse
There is in no private conversation three but that He is the fourth of them
ما يكون من نجوى ثلاثة إلا هو رابعهمThe Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : So how do they deal with the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah? It is necessary to...
The Shaykh : No, no. He deals with this.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : No, absolutely not. It is not metaphor. He says it is reality. He says it is reality... Allah is on the Throne, and it does not necessitate from the reality of presence that Allah be in a place... This moon, we say it is with us, and it is in the sky.