Tracing the Hadith: "And the Throne is above that..."
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The student: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, who guided whom He wills of His servants to His straight path, and favored them with seeing Him in the abode of bliss. May Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, a prayer from the Forgiving, the Merciful.
As for what follows: This is a tracing of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he said:. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned it in his proof of the names and attributes of Allah from the Sunnah in his blessed creed titled al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah, and I have limited myself to mentioning the disagreement.
The Shaykh : What is it called? What is it called?
The student: al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : Move the taa.
The student: titled al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : Move the taa.
The student: I moved it.
The Shaykh : What did you say?
The student: al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : al-'Aqidah? Correct, or al-'Aqidah?
The student: In the accusative case.
The Shaykh : In the accusative case? Yes, in the accusative case, it is the second object of musamma. The hidden subject acting as the first object. Yes.
The student: titled al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah, and I have limited myself to briefly mentioning the disagreement among the narrators regarding the wording by which the Shaykh al-Islam argued, without the rest of the words of the hadith.
Imam Ahmad narrated
The Shaykh : I say, may Allah reward you with good.
The student: (may Allah have mercy on him) with his chain of narration from al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in al-Bat'ha when a cloud passed by, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:.
As we mentioned, the hadith was narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad: Volume 1, page 206, and by Abu Dawud in his Sunan: Volume 4, page 231, in the Book of the Sunnah, Chapter on the Jahmiyyah, except that he said:Sunan Abi Dawud 4723Da'if (Al-Albani). And he did not add to that, meaning: he did not mention the knowledge.
The Shaykh : Yes. Yes.
The student: al-Tirmidhi narrated it in his Sunan, Volume 5 / 424, in the Book of Tafsir of the Qur'an, Chapter 62 of Surat al-Haqqah, except that he said:. And he did not add to that.
Ibn Majah narrated it in his Sunan, Volume 1, page 37, in the Introduction, Chapter 3, the ten things the Jahmiyyah denied, except that he said:, and he did not add to that either.
Al-Hakim narrated it in his al-Mustadrak, Volume 2, page 362, with the wording of al-Tirmidhi, and al-Khatib narrated it in al-Mishkat, Volume 3, page 1596, Islamic Office edition, in the Book of the States of the Resurrection and the Beginning of Creation, Chapter on the Beginning of Creation and the Mention of the Prophets, hadith number 5726, with the exact wording of al-Tirmidhi with a slight difference.
As for the authenticity of the hadith, it has...
Praise be to Allah, who guided whom He wills of His servants to His straight path, and favored them with seeing Him in the abode of bliss. May Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, a prayer from the Forgiving, the Merciful.
As for what follows: This is a tracing of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he said:
And the Throne is above that, and Allah is above the Throne, knowing what you are upon
والعرش فوق ذلك، والله فوق العرش، يعلم ما أنتم عليهThe Shaykh : What is it called? What is it called?
The student: al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : Move the taa.
The student: titled al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : Move the taa.
The student: I moved it.
The Shaykh : What did you say?
The student: al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah.
The Shaykh : al-'Aqidah? Correct, or al-'Aqidah?
The student: In the accusative case.
The Shaykh : In the accusative case? Yes, in the accusative case, it is the second object of musamma. The hidden subject acting as the first object. Yes.
The student: titled al-'Aqidah al-Wasatiyyah, and I have limited myself to briefly mentioning the disagreement among the narrators regarding the wording by which the Shaykh al-Islam argued, without the rest of the words of the hadith.
Imam Ahmad narrated
The Shaykh : I say, may Allah reward you with good.
The student: (may Allah have mercy on him) with his chain of narration from al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in al-Bat'ha when a cloud passed by, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Do you know what this is? He said: We said, the cloud. He said: And the rain cloud. We said: And the rain cloud. He said: And the reins. He said: So we were silent. Then he said: Do you know how much is between the heaven and the earth? He said: We said, Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: Between them is a journey of five hundred years, and from each heaven to the next heaven is a journey of five hundred years, and the thickness of each heaven is five hundred years, and above the seventh heaven is a sea, between its bottom and its top is like the distance between the heaven and the earth, then above that are eight camels, between their knees and their hooves is like the distance between the heaven and the earth, then above that is the Throne, between its bottom and its top is like the distance between the heaven and the earth, and Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is above that, and nothing of the deeds of the children of Adam is hidden from Him
أتدرون ما هذا؟ قال : قلنا السحاب، قال : والمزن، قلنا والمزن، قال والعنان، قال : فسكتنا، فقال : هل تدرون كم بين السماء والأرض؟ قال : قلنا الله ورسوله أعلم، قال : بينهما مسيرة خمسمائة سنة، ومن كل سماء إلى سماء مسيرة خمسمائة سنة، وكثف كل سماء خمسمائة سنة، وفوق السماء السابعة بحر بين أسفله وأعلاه كما بين السماء والأرض، ثم فوق ذلك ثمانية أوعال بين ركبهن وأظلافهن كما بين السماء والأرض، ثم فوق ذلك العرش بين أسفله وأعلاه كما بين السماء والأرض، والله تبارك وتعالى فوق ذلك، وليس يخفى عليه من أعمال بني آدم شيءAs we mentioned, the hadith was narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad: Volume 1, page 206, and by Abu Dawud in his Sunan: Volume 4, page 231, in the Book of the Sunnah, Chapter on the Jahmiyyah, except that he said:
Narrated Al-Abbas ibn AbdulMuttalib: I was sitting in al-Batha with a company among whom the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sitting, when a cloud passed above them. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) looked at it and said: What do you call this? They said: Sahab. He said: And muzn? They said: And muzn. He said: And anan? They said: And anan. AbuDawud said: I am not quite confident about the word anan. He asked: Do you know the distance between Heaven and Earth? They replied: We do not know. He then said: The distance between them is seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-three years. The heaven which is above it is at a similar distance (going on till he counted seven heavens). Above the seventh heaven there is a sea, the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches is like the distance between one heaven and the next. Then Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, is above that.
ثم على ظهورهن العرش بين أسفله وأعلاه مثل ما بين سماء إلى سماء، ثم الله تبارك تعالى فوق ذلكThe Shaykh : Yes. Yes.
The student: al-Tirmidhi narrated it in his Sunan, Volume 5 / 424, in the Book of Tafsir of the Qur'an, Chapter 62 of Surat al-Haqqah, except that he said:
Above their backs is the Throne, between its bottom and its top is less than the distance from one heaven to another, and Allah is above that
فوق ظهورهن العرش بين أسفله وأعلاه ما دون سماء إلى سماء، والله فوق ذلكIbn Majah narrated it in his Sunan, Volume 1, page 37, in the Introduction, Chapter 3, the ten things the Jahmiyyah denied, except that he said:
Then upon their backs is the Throne, between its top and its bottom is like the distance from one heaven to another, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is above that, (Blessed and Exalted is He)
ثم على ظهورهن العرش بين أعلاه وأسفله كما بين سماء إلى سماء، ثم الله عز وجل فوق ذلك تبارك وتعالىAl-Hakim narrated it in his al-Mustadrak, Volume 2, page 362, with the wording of al-Tirmidhi, and al-Khatib narrated it in al-Mishkat, Volume 3, page 1596, Islamic Office edition, in the Book of the States of the Resurrection and the Beginning of Creation, Chapter on the Beginning of Creation and the Mention of the Prophets, hadith number 5726, with the exact wording of al-Tirmidhi with a slight difference.
As for the authenticity of the hadith, it has...