Continuation of the discussion on the division of the people of innovation regarding the names of Allah the Exalted and His attributes.
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The Shaykh : The innovation of indwelling (hulul) and union (ittihad), and the denial of the resurrection, and what is similar to that, branched out from the innovation of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah. This is because the philosophers who entered Islam were influenced by Greek philosophy. They took from Greek philosophy what they took, and they were led astray from the path and led many astray, relying on the innovation of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah. For the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah all engage in figurative interpretation (ta'wil) of the verses of attributes and their hadiths. They interpret them and say, "I am expressing this through interpretation based on their claim." However, in reality, they distort them. They distorted them and said: "Their apparent meaning is not intended; their apparent meaning is not intended; the establishment of attributes is not intended by them. Rather, meanings are intended that they have designated in their minds." Then the philosophers, the people of indwelling and union, such as al-Hallaj and others, came and denied the existence of the Creator, the resurrection, Paradise, and the Fire. They said: "What the messengers brought regarding the command to believe in Allah and the Last Day is nothing but imagination with no reality." How is it imagination? It means they depict things for people that they imagine in their minds, which the overflowing intellect (aql al-fayyad) or something similar has poured out upon them. They depicted them for people and said to people: "You have a Lord described with attributes, and you will be resurrected and recompensed, and you will enter Paradise or the Fire, and all of this has no reality." I seek refuge in Allah. It is like what a mother says to her child: "Be quiet, or the bogeyman will come to you," when there is no bogeyman and nothing there. They say the messengers imagined things for people, and there is no reality to that.
Then they divided regarding the messengers as well. Some of them said: "The messengers did not know the truth, nor did they know that what they called people to was not a reality, and that they were ignorant in the actual matter."
Another group said: "The messengers know that what they call people to is not a truth, but they are intelligent and geniuses, and they called people to it and brought these matters because they know that the people's affairs will not be rectified unless they are told that. If the messengers had come and said, 'Worship Allah and hope for the Last Day' and the like, they would not have agreed. But if they are warned and threatened, and encouraged and given good news, then at that time, what happens? Their affairs are rectified."
So the first group accused the messengers of what? Of ignorance.
And a group accused them of lying and betrayal, may Allah protect us. But the important thing is that this exists. This group and this sect exist: the people of indwelling and union, and among them are many of the Nusayriyyah and others who hold this opinion, may Allah protect us.
Now, the Mu'tazilah stood up against them and said: "O people, fear Allah. The messengers came with the establishment of this matter, and with striking examples for it, and that it is a possible matter and a necessary matter. It is necessary that there be a resurrection and recompense, and Paradise and the Fire. The texts are before us, clear. The doubt you say that it is impossible is false. The Qur'an refuted it when it said: 'The clear adversary' (al-Khasim al-Mubin): 'Who will restore life to bones when they are crumbled?' Allah said:[Ya-Sin 36:79] So the messengers came with the establishment of the resurrection and recompense, and the doubt preventing it is false. It is incumbent upon you to say that you affirm it. And what did these philosophers, the devils, say to them? They said: "Fine, the messengers came with the establishment of attributes for Allah the Exalted and Majestic, and the doubt that prevents the existence of attributes for Allah is false. What is the preventer that Allah should be described with knowledge, power, wisdom, mercy, and the like, without likeness? What is the preventer? There is no preventer. So the messengers came with the establishment of the attributes, and the preventer is absent. And yet you denied the attributes. How do you argue against us with something you fabricate? Rather, what we denied is established in the Book and the Sunnah far less than the establishment of the names of Allah and His attributes. I mean, if you reflect on the Qur'an and the Sunnah, which is more: Allah speaking about the resurrection and recompense and Paradise and the Fire, or His names and attributes? About His names and attributes. You hardly find a verse that does not have something of His names and attributes. Indeed, every letter in the Qur'an is of the attributes of Allah, because it is from the speech of Allah, so it is His attribute. And how do you resent us for denying a matter that you deny something more real than it? And so the philosophers, or the philosophized (as is more correct), took advantage of the Mu'tazilah, and the Mu'tazilah and the Jahmiyyah and their followers were unable to answer. But the people of the Sunnah and the community came, and Allah illuminated their insight, and they said: 'We answer you. We say that all is true according to its reality, and we do not contradict ourselves.' And by that, the proof was established against the philosophized philosophers and against the Mu'tazilah and the Jahmiyyah."
So the result is that you, my brothers, if you look into the books of the people that concern themselves with collecting the sayings of people in this matter, you will see the amazing things that you say: How does a sane person, let alone a believer, utter such words? But whoever Allah does not give light to has no light. The one whose insight Allah has blinded is like the one whose sight Allah has blinded. Just as the blind of sight, if he stood before the sun which breaks the light of sight, would not see it, so the one whose insight Allah has blinded, if he stood before the lights of the truth, would not see them, may Allah protect us.
Therefore, it is obligatory for us always to ask Allah the Exalted and Majestic for steadfastness upon the matter, and that He not cause our hearts to deviate after He has guided us, because the matter is serious, and Satan enters upon the son of Adam from every direction and every side, and he casts doubt in him regarding his creed and his religion and the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. These are, in reality, the innovations that have spread in the Muslim community.
But, praise be to Allah, no one has innovated an innovation except that Allah, by His grace and generosity, has provided someone who clarifies this innovation and refutes it with the truth. This is part of the full meaning of the saying of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He:[Al-Hijr 15:9] This is from the preservation of Allah for this remembrance. And this is also the requirement of the wisdom of Allah the Exalted and Majestic, because Allah the Exalted and Majestic made Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) the seal of the prophets, and the message must remain on earth, otherwise people would have an excuse against Allah. And if the message must remain on earth, it is incumbent that Allah the Exalted and Majestic, by the requirement of His wisdom, provide at every innovation someone who clarifies it and exposes its defects. And this, praise be to Allah, is what happens. For this reason, I always say to you: Strive for knowledge, because we are in this country in the future, if we do not arm ourselves with knowledge based on the Book and the Sunnah, it is likely that what happened to other Islamic countries will happen to us. And these countries now are the ones upon which the enemies of Islam rely, and they direct their revealing, concealed lights at them in order to mislead their people. So arm yourselves with knowledge so that you are clear in your affair in your religion, and so that you are those who strive with your tongues and pens against the enemies of Allah the Exalted and Majestic.
Now, who has questions? Five minutes only.
The questioner : O Shaykh, you mentioned that the Jahmiyyah...
The Shaykh : The individuals among them... its clarification regarding these innovations. And all of this is so that we strive for the knowledge received from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because they are the original source. And all these innovations, as you heard, all occurred after the Companions. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not researching these matters because they received the Book and the Sunnah according to their apparent meaning and according to what the fitrah (innate natural disposition) requires. And the sound fitrah is sound. But these people came, either due to their little knowledge, or the deficiency of their understanding, or the badness of their intention, and they corrupted the whole world with these innovations that they brought out. But as we said: Allah the Exalted and Majestic, by His wisdom and praise and His grace and favor, no innovation has come out except that He provided for it someone who refutes it and clarifies it.
Among those who clarified the innovations and stood up completely is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). And I ask Allah for you and for me that He gather us with him in the Gardens of Delight.
This man whom Allah benefited with, and He gave him from His bounty and bestowed upon the community like him. He authored this creed, as I said, in response to the request of one of the judges of Wasit, who complained to him about what the people were upon of innovations, and requested from him that he author this creed, so he authored it.
Then they divided regarding the messengers as well. Some of them said: "The messengers did not know the truth, nor did they know that what they called people to was not a reality, and that they were ignorant in the actual matter."
Another group said: "The messengers know that what they call people to is not a truth, but they are intelligent and geniuses, and they called people to it and brought these matters because they know that the people's affairs will not be rectified unless they are told that. If the messengers had come and said, 'Worship Allah and hope for the Last Day' and the like, they would not have agreed. But if they are warned and threatened, and encouraged and given good news, then at that time, what happens? Their affairs are rectified."
So the first group accused the messengers of what? Of ignorance.
And a group accused them of lying and betrayal, may Allah protect us. But the important thing is that this exists. This group and this sect exist: the people of indwelling and union, and among them are many of the Nusayriyyah and others who hold this opinion, may Allah protect us.
Now, the Mu'tazilah stood up against them and said: "O people, fear Allah. The messengers came with the establishment of this matter, and with striking examples for it, and that it is a possible matter and a necessary matter. It is necessary that there be a resurrection and recompense, and Paradise and the Fire. The texts are before us, clear. The doubt you say that it is impossible is false. The Qur'an refuted it when it said: 'The clear adversary' (al-Khasim al-Mubin): 'Who will restore life to bones when they are crumbled?' Allah said:
He will give them life who produced them the first time
يُحْيِيهَا الَّذِي أَنْشَأَهَا أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍSo the result is that you, my brothers, if you look into the books of the people that concern themselves with collecting the sayings of people in this matter, you will see the amazing things that you say: How does a sane person, let alone a believer, utter such words? But whoever Allah does not give light to has no light. The one whose insight Allah has blinded is like the one whose sight Allah has blinded. Just as the blind of sight, if he stood before the sun which breaks the light of sight, would not see it, so the one whose insight Allah has blinded, if he stood before the lights of the truth, would not see them, may Allah protect us.
Therefore, it is obligatory for us always to ask Allah the Exalted and Majestic for steadfastness upon the matter, and that He not cause our hearts to deviate after He has guided us, because the matter is serious, and Satan enters upon the son of Adam from every direction and every side, and he casts doubt in him regarding his creed and his religion and the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. These are, in reality, the innovations that have spread in the Muslim community.
But, praise be to Allah, no one has innovated an innovation except that Allah, by His grace and generosity, has provided someone who clarifies this innovation and refutes it with the truth. This is part of the full meaning of the saying of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He:
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَNow, who has questions? Five minutes only.
The questioner : O Shaykh, you mentioned that the Jahmiyyah...
The Shaykh : The individuals among them... its clarification regarding these innovations. And all of this is so that we strive for the knowledge received from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because they are the original source. And all these innovations, as you heard, all occurred after the Companions. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not researching these matters because they received the Book and the Sunnah according to their apparent meaning and according to what the fitrah (innate natural disposition) requires. And the sound fitrah is sound. But these people came, either due to their little knowledge, or the deficiency of their understanding, or the badness of their intention, and they corrupted the whole world with these innovations that they brought out. But as we said: Allah the Exalted and Majestic, by His wisdom and praise and His grace and favor, no innovation has come out except that He provided for it someone who refutes it and clarifies it.
Among those who clarified the innovations and stood up completely is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). And I ask Allah for you and for me that He gather us with him in the Gardens of Delight.
This man whom Allah benefited with, and He gave him from His bounty and bestowed upon the community like him. He authored this creed, as I said, in response to the request of one of the judges of Wasit, who complained to him about what the people were upon of innovations, and requested from him that he author this creed, so he authored it.