Explanation of the author's statement: "And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, watching over His creation, having dominion over them, seeing them, and so on, of the meanings of His Lordship."
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The reader: In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Shaykh : Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, watching over His creation, above His Throne". Glory be to Allah, I have a copy with me now: "And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, watching over His creation, having dominion over them, seeing them, and so on, of the meanings of His Lordship".
He says (may Allah have mercy on him): He is with the traveler in reality, and with the non-traveler wherever he is. And yet, we do not say that He is with us in a way that contradicts His being a Knower, a Watcher, a Dominator, and a Controller. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, even though He is with the creation, but He is above His Throne.
"Watching over His creation". Watching over them means monitoring, preserving their words and deeds, their movements and stillness. "Having dominion over them" means He is the Ruler and Controller of His servants. He has the judgment, and to Him all matters are referred. His command, when He wills something, is to say to it "Be," and it is. But He says: "Seeing them". Seeing them means He is looking at them; nothing of their conditions is hidden from Him.
"And so on, of the meanings of His Lordship". The meanings of Lordship are many, because the Lord is the Creator, the Owner, and the Manager, and this carries many meanings. Now, he says (may Allah have mercy on him):
"And all this speech mentioned by Allah—that He is above the Throne and that He is with us—is true in its reality". He is above the Throne in truth, and He is with us in truth. Now, "in its reality" does not mean that His being above His servants, or above His creation, or above His Throne means He is above them in terms of meaning, power, and strength, as the people of denial of the divine attributes said, who deny the intrinsic above-ness and say that He is above His Throne means in power, ability, and knowledge, like saying "gold is above silver" in terms of quantity and value, or the like. "But He is above His servants". What? He is above the Throne by His Essence. He is with us also. He says: "True in its reality". He is with us, but he says: "It does not require distortion". Look at the phrase "does not require distortion." In reality, distortion is turning the wording away from its apparent meaning. So the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) says: This does not require distortion, meaning that we do not distort the meaning of His being with us from its apparent meaning. Rather, we say it is true in its apparent meaning. And whoever interprets it other than its reality is, in his speech, a distorter. He is, in his speech, a distorter. He says: "It does not require distortion". Just as if a person interprets the above-ness other than the above-ness of the Essence, he becomes a distorter. So he says: "This is true in its reality". And this is true in its reality and does not require distortion. But it requires something else, which is that it be protected from false suspicions. It must be protected. "Such as being protected from false suspicions". Meaning, false suspicions are illusions. Because we have a true suspicion, which is what is more probable of the two sides, and a false suspicion, which is the less probable of the two sides. And what is known in the principles of jurisprudence as what? As an illusion. As an illusion. If you prefer one thing over another with a preferrer, we call this a suspicion, and we call the less probable side...
The student: An illusion.
The Shaykh : Or
The student: A false suspicion.
The Shaykh : No, no. Or a lying suspicion, or a false suspicion. Why did we call it a lie? Because its occurrence regarding the matter is weak and incorrect. Therefore, we called it false.
It is protected from false suspicions. It was on... let us see now.
"Such as suspecting that the apparent meaning of His saying 'in the heaven' is that the heaven carries Him or shades Him". Allah is in the heaven, meaning in the height, above everything. What is the false suspicion that may occur with such an expression? That we suspect that the heaven carries Him, bears Him, and that He needs the heaven, as if we said "so-and-so is on the roof," then the roof carries him. The roof bears him; without the roof, he would fall. So whoever suspects that the meaning of His saying "in the heaven" is that the heaven carries Him, we say this is a false suspicion and is not correct. Now.
"Or shades Him". Meaning, it is above Him like a ceiling over a person. If a person suspects this, it is a false suspicion. The evidences indicating the above-ness must be protected. They must be protected from that. The author should have said: "And such as suspecting that the apparent meaning of His saying 'He is with you' is that He is mixed with the creation." Because this false suspicion that occurs regarding His being with us is what he mentioned (may Allah have mercy on him) as an example of the false suspicion that occurs regarding what? Regarding the above-ness. And he omitted mentioning His being with us because it is understood from this. So the false suspicion regarding His being with us is that a person suspects that His saying[Al-Hadid 57:4] means He is mixed with the creation and present in their places. This is a false suspicion from which the speech of Allah and His Messenger must be protected. Do you understand now? Now, regarding the above-ness and His being with us, is it permissible to take them by their apparent meaning and reality?
The student: Yes, it is obligatory.
The Shaykh : Is it permissible or obligatory?
The student: It is obligatory.
The Shaykh : It is obligatory. Now, a question: Is it possible to take them by an apparent meaning based on a false suspicion?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : No. It is obligatory to protect the speech of Allah and the speech of His Messenger from these false suspicions. Now, what is the false suspicion regarding the rising above the Throne? That we suspect that the Throne carries Him, and that without the Throne, Allah would fall. Glory be to Allah, Exalted is He. But Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is the One who holds the Throne and what is below the Throne. Therefore, the author said (may Allah have mercy on him): "And this is false by the consensus of the scholars and the believers". The scholars and the believers have agreed that the suspicion that the heaven carries Allah, or shades Him, is a false suspicion. It is a false suspicion. It is never permissible to imagine it regarding Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Yes.
The Shaykh : Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, watching over His creation, above His Throne". Glory be to Allah, I have a copy with me now: "And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, watching over His creation, having dominion over them, seeing them, and so on, of the meanings of His Lordship".
He says (may Allah have mercy on him): He is with the traveler in reality, and with the non-traveler wherever he is. And yet, we do not say that He is with us in a way that contradicts His being a Knower, a Watcher, a Dominator, and a Controller. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, even though He is with the creation, but He is above His Throne.
"Watching over His creation". Watching over them means monitoring, preserving their words and deeds, their movements and stillness. "Having dominion over them" means He is the Ruler and Controller of His servants. He has the judgment, and to Him all matters are referred. His command, when He wills something, is to say to it "Be," and it is. But He says: "Seeing them". Seeing them means He is looking at them; nothing of their conditions is hidden from Him.
"And so on, of the meanings of His Lordship". The meanings of Lordship are many, because the Lord is the Creator, the Owner, and the Manager, and this carries many meanings. Now, he says (may Allah have mercy on him):
"And all this speech mentioned by Allah—that He is above the Throne and that He is with us—is true in its reality". He is above the Throne in truth, and He is with us in truth. Now, "in its reality" does not mean that His being above His servants, or above His creation, or above His Throne means He is above them in terms of meaning, power, and strength, as the people of denial of the divine attributes said, who deny the intrinsic above-ness and say that He is above His Throne means in power, ability, and knowledge, like saying "gold is above silver" in terms of quantity and value, or the like. "But He is above His servants". What? He is above the Throne by His Essence. He is with us also. He says: "True in its reality". He is with us, but he says: "It does not require distortion". Look at the phrase "does not require distortion." In reality, distortion is turning the wording away from its apparent meaning. So the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) says: This does not require distortion, meaning that we do not distort the meaning of His being with us from its apparent meaning. Rather, we say it is true in its apparent meaning. And whoever interprets it other than its reality is, in his speech, a distorter. He is, in his speech, a distorter. He says: "It does not require distortion". Just as if a person interprets the above-ness other than the above-ness of the Essence, he becomes a distorter. So he says: "This is true in its reality". And this is true in its reality and does not require distortion. But it requires something else, which is that it be protected from false suspicions. It must be protected. "Such as being protected from false suspicions". Meaning, false suspicions are illusions. Because we have a true suspicion, which is what is more probable of the two sides, and a false suspicion, which is the less probable of the two sides. And what is known in the principles of jurisprudence as what? As an illusion. As an illusion. If you prefer one thing over another with a preferrer, we call this a suspicion, and we call the less probable side...
The student: An illusion.
The Shaykh : Or
The student: A false suspicion.
The Shaykh : No, no. Or a lying suspicion, or a false suspicion. Why did we call it a lie? Because its occurrence regarding the matter is weak and incorrect. Therefore, we called it false.
It is protected from false suspicions. It was on... let us see now.
"Such as suspecting that the apparent meaning of His saying 'in the heaven' is that the heaven carries Him or shades Him". Allah is in the heaven, meaning in the height, above everything. What is the false suspicion that may occur with such an expression? That we suspect that the heaven carries Him, bears Him, and that He needs the heaven, as if we said "so-and-so is on the roof," then the roof carries him. The roof bears him; without the roof, he would fall. So whoever suspects that the meaning of His saying "in the heaven" is that the heaven carries Him, we say this is a false suspicion and is not correct. Now.
"Or shades Him". Meaning, it is above Him like a ceiling over a person. If a person suspects this, it is a false suspicion. The evidences indicating the above-ness must be protected. They must be protected from that. The author should have said: "And such as suspecting that the apparent meaning of His saying 'He is with you' is that He is mixed with the creation." Because this false suspicion that occurs regarding His being with us is what he mentioned (may Allah have mercy on him) as an example of the false suspicion that occurs regarding what? Regarding the above-ness. And he omitted mentioning His being with us because it is understood from this. So the false suspicion regarding His being with us is that a person suspects that His saying
and He is with you wherever you are
وهو معكم أينما كنتمThe student: Yes, it is obligatory.
The Shaykh : Is it permissible or obligatory?
The student: It is obligatory.
The Shaykh : It is obligatory. Now, a question: Is it possible to take them by an apparent meaning based on a false suspicion?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : No. It is obligatory to protect the speech of Allah and the speech of His Messenger from these false suspicions. Now, what is the false suspicion regarding the rising above the Throne? That we suspect that the Throne carries Him, and that without the Throne, Allah would fall. Glory be to Allah, Exalted is He. But Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is the One who holds the Throne and what is below the Throne. Therefore, the author said (may Allah have mercy on him): "And this is false by the consensus of the scholars and the believers". The scholars and the believers have agreed that the suspicion that the heaven carries Allah, or shades Him, is a false suspicion. It is a false suspicion. It is never permissible to imagine it regarding Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Yes.