Explanation of the author's statement and his saying: (O Jesus, I am taking you and raising you to Myself)

The Shaykh : He said, may Allah have mercy on him: And His saying:
The address is to 'Isa ibn Maryam, whom Allah created from a mother without a father, and for this reason he is attributed to his mother. He says: The scholars have mentioned three meanings for it:
It means taking you, and from this is their saying "he fulfilled his right," meaning he took it. It is from the word "fulfillment" (wafa'). I fulfilled his right, so he fulfilled it, meaning he paid it.
The second opinion: It means causing you to sleep, because sleep is a kind of death, as Allah the Exalted said: When does He take her? And he said:
The third opinion: That it is the death of dying, causing you to die. And from this is His saying, the Exalted: And His saying: So, O 'Abd al-Zayd, how many opinions are there?
The student: Three.

The Shaykh : Three. Which is the most correct? We say that as for meaning causing you to die, that is far-fetched, because 'Isa did not die, he did not die, and he will descend in the last of time. Allah the Exalted said: According to one of the interpretations, meaning before the death of 'Isa, and that is when he descends. It was said before the death of the one, meaning that no one from the People of the Book, even if he is a Jew, but when death approaches him, he will believe in 'Isa. This opinion is weak, meaning that the intended meaning of "taking" (tawaf) is the death of dying. So the preference remains between the taking of seizing and the taking of sleep.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Meaning, taking you to Me while you are awake and alive, and you are awake and alive. We say that it is possible to combine them, so that He seizes him while he is sleeping, meaning that Allah casts sleep upon him and then raises him. There is no contradiction between the two matters: that Allah casts sleep upon him and then raises him to the sky, and he remains until the time when Allah permits the descent to the earth. His saying: The evidence here is to. What does it indicate? It indicates the limit. It indicates the limit. So if he says: Then where is the one to whom he is raised? Above. And this indicates the elevation, the elevation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
Now, if someone were to say, "He raises you in rank," as Allah the Exalted said: We would say that this does not hold, because the raising here is governed by a preposition that is specific to the raising which is the raising of height, the raising of the body, and not the raising of rank, due to His saying: Is it clear?
The elevation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is divided into two categories: conceptual elevation and essential elevation. As for the conceptual elevation, it is established for Allah by the consensus of the people of the Qiblah, meaning by the consensus of the people of innovation and the people of the Sunnah; all of them believe that Allah the Exalted is elevated in a conceptual elevation, and they do not deny it. As for the essential elevation, it is established with the people of the Sunnah, but it is not established with the people of innovation. They say that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, is not elevated in an essential elevation. So we begin first with the evidence of the people of the Sunnah for the essential elevation of Allah, Glorified and Exalted. We say that the people of the Sunnah argued for the essential elevation of Allah the Exalted with the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, reason, and fitrah. How many?
The student: Five.

The Shaykh : Five. Five types of evidence. The Noble Book varied in its indication of the elevation of Allah: sometimes by mentioning the above-ness, sometimes by mentioning the elevation, sometimes by mentioning the descent of things from Him, sometimes by mentioning their ascent to Him, and sometimes by His being in the sky. How many of these?
The student: Five.

The Shaykh : Five. Five. The elevation, such as His saying: The above-ness, The descent of things from Him, such as His saying: and the like. The ascent of things to Him, such as His saying: and such as His saying: Good.
The fifth: His being in the sky, such as His saying, the Exalted: Good.
As for the Sunnah, it has been mass-transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his saying, his doing, and his approval. In his saying, his doing, and his approval.
As for the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), it came with the mention of elevation. From this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And his saying: When he mentioned the heavens, he said: And Allah is above the Throne. And the mention of the sky that Allah is in the sky came, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Do you not trust me, while I am the trusted one of those in the sky? And the mention of that also came in his saying: The wife when she disobeys her husband and angers him, and other hadiths. And the establishment of elevation came from the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that was when he raised his finger to the sky while he was preaching to the people in the largest gathering, and that was on the Day of 'Arafah in the Year of the Farewell Pilgrimage. For the Companions did not gather in a gathering greater than that gathering, because the number of those who performed the pilgrimage with him reached about one hundred thousand, and those who died before him were one hundred and twenty-four thousand, meaning the majority of the Muslims attended that gathering. So he said (peace and blessings be upon him): What? Meaning, over them, over those on the earth. And this is an indication by action of the establishment of elevation by action. And when the man came to him, he entered upon him while he was preaching on Friday and said, "The wealth is destroyed and the roads are cut off, so call upon Allah to relieve us." He raised his hands and said: To where?
The student: To the sky

The Shaykh : To the sky in which He is, to whom they call, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is an establishment of elevation, and what? By action. And as for in the approval, Free her, for she is a believer. The slave girl had not learned, and the common state of slave girls is ignorance, especially since she is a slave, not free, not released, she does not control herself. She learned that her Lord is in the sky... The children of Adam deny that Allah is in the sky and say that either He is not above the world nor below it, nor to the right nor to the left, or that He is in every place. Look, Glory be to Allah! The person who is on his fitrah is guided by his fitrah, and whoever follows a path other than the path of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is destroyed. This is just as soon as she said She did not say, "Let me reflect, let me think, is this possible or permissible? Does this necessitate a place, a limit, and a direction, or does it not necessitate it?" Or did she say such a thing? No.
The student: No, immediately.

The Shaykh : No, immediately. She said, "In the sky." So the answer came immediately. What is the answer? Free her, for she is a believer. And this is an approval. The Messenger did not say when she said, "In the sky," "Glory be to Allah from what you describe. Allah is in the sky. Allah is sanctified from being in the sky. This is a limit you have set for Allah. You have made Him confined in a place. You have placed Him in a direction. Seek forgiveness from your Lord." Did he say this?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : No, rather he said: And this is an approval from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and an establishment also that this is the faith: Free her, for she is a believer. Good. The indication of consensus: The Salaf agreed that Allah the Exalted is in the sky with His essence, from the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to this day. For the Salafi who takes the reports of the Salaf, even if his time is later, is considered a Salafi. They agreed that Allah the Exalted is in the sky, elevated with His essence. If I say, how did they agree? Give me one letter where they say that Allah is in the sky with His essence? We say that their passing over these verses and hadiths, with the repeated mention of elevation in them, and the above-ness, and the descent of things from Him, and their ascent to Him, without them coming with anything that contradicts them, is an approval from them of, of its establishment, of its establishment. And for this reason, when the Shaykh al-Islam said that the Salaf agreed on that, he said: "So none of them said that Allah is not in the sky, or that Allah is on the earth, or that Allah is not inside the world nor outside of it, nor connected nor disconnected, or that it is not permissible to point to Him physically" And what does this statement mean? It is not permissible to point to Him physically. What? For example,
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Meaning, they did not say it is not permissible to say "There is no god but Allah" and raise your hands to the sky. Some of the innovators say, "I, some of the innovators who deny the elevation say, if I saw someone raise his finger to the sky pointing to Allah, I would cut it off." I seek refuge in Allah! The Messenger raises his hand to the sky, and you, if you see someone raise it, you cut it off? Look, we ask Allah for safety. How does innovation reach this extent? Good. The indication of reason for that: We say that there is no doubt that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is either in the elevation or in the lowliness. And His being in the lowliness is a deficiency, because it necessitates that there is something of His creation above Him, so He would not have the complete elevation and the complete control and the complete dominion. Because the elevation from above has complete control, even in the military fields now, in war. If the command is from above, the control over the below is more and stronger. So we say either Allah is above or below, and the second is impossible. And if the second is impossible, what?
The student: The first is necessitated.

The Shaykh : The first point is established. Now, let us present another rational argument: we say that being above is an attribute of perfection by consensus. No rational person claims that being above is an attribute of deficiency. Since it is an attribute of perfection, it must be affirmed for Allah, because it is known that every absolute attribute of perfection is affirmed for Allah. My use of the word "absolute" is to distinguish it from relative perfection, which is perfection in one state but not in another. For example, sleep is a deficiency, but for one who needs it and restores his strength through it, it is a perfection.
Now, we remain with the fitrah (innate natural disposition). The fitrah is something in which there can be no dispute or stubbornness. Every human being is created with the disposition that Allah is in the sky. Yes, every human being. This is why, when something unexpected happens that you cannot repel, and you turn to Allah the Exalted to repel it, where does your heart turn? To the sky. Even those who deny the elevation of the Essence cannot raise their hands to the ground; they do not lower their hands to the ground. A man in Mina argued with another three years ago who denied the elevation. The argument took place on the day of 'Id al-Adha. The one arguing with him said, "You were in 'Arafah yesterday." He said, "Yes." "You called upon Allah." He said, "Yes." "You raised your hands in supplication." He said, "Yes." He said, "You should have lowered them to the ground and said, 'O Lord, give me.'" Now, you are forced to admit that Allah is in the sky. You raise your hands to the sky. How can you raise them to one who is not in the sky while you are supplicating? This fitrah cannot be denied. They even say that some of the dumb, mute creatures know that Allah is in the sky. They know that Allah is in the sky. In the hadith that is narrated: So, how does it know that Allah is in the sky? It is an innate inspiration, an innate inspiration. It is also said that when a cow is pursued and it tires and stops running, it stands and raises its head to the sky. Yes, and we observe that when a goat is harmed, it stands and raises its hands to the sky. It stands in awe, does not move, and raises its hands to the sky. We do not know; perhaps it is calling upon Allah Mighty and Majestic, just as the ant called upon Him. In conclusion, the fact that Allah is in the sky is known by the fitrah. By Allah, if the fitrah of these deniers were not corrupted, they would know that Allah is in the sky without having to read any book, because the matter indicated by the fitrah does not require consulting books; the fitrah indicates it.
So, the evidence for the elevation of Allah, the elevation of the Essence, is of five types: the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, reason, and the fitrah. That is complete.
Those who denied the elevation of Allah the Exalted by His Essence, their argument is: if He were elevated by His Essence, He would be in a direction. And if He were in a direction, He would be limited and a body. He would be limited and a body, and this is impossible. This is impossible. So, what is the elevation according to you? They said, "The elevation for us is the conceptual elevation." The conceptual elevation. Well, there are verses that prevent what you mentioned: They said, "This is a conceptual superiority." From the sky to the earth. They said, "It does not prevent Him from managing affairs from the sky while He is not in the sky; the angels ascend to Him, meaning they return to Him and go back." Of course, if this were the meaning of the verse, it would be a meaning that is repugnant and far from the wording. The verse, by its apparent meaning and style, indicates that Allah is in the sky, managing affairs from the sky, coming from Him to the earth, and then ascending to Him.
We remain to say how we answer their claim that it necessitates Him being limited and a body. We say, first, it does not necessitate it. It is not permissible to invalidate the indication of the texts with such rationalizations. This is one point. And if this were permissible, every person who does not want what the text necessitates could rationalize it with such defective causes. If Allah had affirmed the elevation for Himself, and His Messenger had affirmed it for Him, and the righteous Salaf had affirmed it for Him, you would come and say, "We cannot describe Him with elevation, because if it were elevation, it would be such and such."
Second: We say, if what you mentioned is a necessary consequence of affirming the elevation, and it is a correct necessity, then let us say it. We say, yes, He is a body and limited, if it is a necessary consequence. Why do we say it if it is a necessary consequence? Because the necessary consequence of the speech of Allah and His Messenger is the truth. Indeed, Allah the Exalted knows what is necessitated by His speech and what is not. Therefore, when He the Exalted knew what was necessitated by His speech from the false assumption, He clarified it in the authentic hadith: "My servant, I was hungry and you did not feed Me," or What is the apparent meaning of this?
The student: That Allah is fed.

The Shaykh : That Allah the Exalted is the one who needed food and I did not feed Him, and that Allah is the one who was sick and I did not visit Him. Look... Allah the Exalted. If the verses of elevation or the texts of elevation necessitated a false meaning, if they necessitated a false meaning, Allah the Exalted would have clarified it. Did He not announce the Hour?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : We stop here.
And I pray and send peace upon the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. It has been established for us that among the beliefs of the people of the Sunnah and the community is the belief in the elevation of Allah, both the elevation of attribute and the elevation of Essence. And that the elevation of His Essence, Mighty and Majestic, has been indicated by the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, reason, and the fitrah. Yes. And the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah is varied, which indicates the establishment of that, because the more the evidence increases and varies, the more it confirms the indicated meaning. Do we need to discuss it, or is it clear?
The student: It is clear.

The Shaykh : It is clear. Well, regarding the rational indication, we said that reason indicates the elevation of Allah the Exalted from two aspects. This is what needs discussion.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes... an attribute of perfection, and its affirmation for Allah is obligatory, because Allah the Exalted has the attribute of perfection, as He said: