What is the Shaykh’s opinion on the most appropriate way to present issues of faith in the attributes and names of Allah on the pulpit in the Friday sermon?
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The questioner : Our Shaykh, we want to consult you on a matter?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : I am giving a sermon explaining faith, and I have now moved on to the oneness of lordship and the oneness of worship.
The Shaykh : What did you say?
The questioner : About explaining faith.
The Shaykh : Mmm.
The questioner : So we explained lordship on the pulpit on Friday.
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The questioner : And we explained the oneness of worship.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We spoke about vows and calling for aid, and all these matters. Now the third section remains: the oneness of the names and attributes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what is the most appropriate way to present this to the people, since they are, for example, common people and so on? Do you have anything in mind, our Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, the best way!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Take a verse:[Ash-Shuraa 42:11] Hearing is not like sight, and sight is not like knowledge. Take the verses and texts that affirm divine knowledge, and focus on three or four examples: that these are attributes that no Muslim can deny by claiming to purify Allah of them. It is not possible to say that Allah is not All-Knowing because so-and-so among people is knowledgeable, nor can one say that He is not All-Seeing or All-Hearing, because the human being, as in the beginning of the chapter of Time [Al-Insan 76:2] and so on. Do not expand beyond these examples. Just as we affirm these attributes for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and no prohibition follows from them as long as we say that it is an attribute of the Lord, not an attribute of creation, and the matter is settled. This is what you can say.
The questioner : Can I touch upon the attribute of being above?
The Shaykh : Ah, how? No, everything is possible, meaning, as long as there is purification of Allah, there is no problem with any attribute established in the Book and the Sunnah.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : It occurs to me that it should be said: The attributes are like any legal ruling. Just as it is not permissible for us to affirm a legal ruling except based on legal evidence, it is even more so that we cannot affirm an attribute for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except with legal evidence. If this attribute is established for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), we affirm it, and we adhere to the principle of purification:[Ash-Shuraa 42:11]. And so, however much the deniers of attributes, the figurative interpreters, or the delegators circle around these names and these attributes, regarding the fact that those who purify by figurative interpretation understand from them what is not befitting Allah (Mighty and Majestic), the answer is known. And those who delegate do so because they also share with the first group in that they understand likening, so they flee from it by delegation.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And all of these people are in clear error.
The questioner : Oh Shaykh, we link this matter to an issue, for example: that mercy, if you also show mercy among yourselvesJami` at-Tirmidhi 1924Hasan (Darussalam).
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And also sight and hearing, that fear Allah in your deeds and similar matters?!
The Shaykh: Yes.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : I am giving a sermon explaining faith, and I have now moved on to the oneness of lordship and the oneness of worship.
The Shaykh : What did you say?
The questioner : About explaining faith.
The Shaykh : Mmm.
The questioner : So we explained lordship on the pulpit on Friday.
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The questioner : And we explained the oneness of worship.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We spoke about vows and calling for aid, and all these matters. Now the third section remains: the oneness of the names and attributes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So what is the most appropriate way to present this to the people, since they are, for example, common people and so on? Do you have anything in mind, our Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, the best way!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Take a verse:
There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُand We made him hearing and seeing.
فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًاThe questioner : Can I touch upon the attribute of being above?
The Shaykh : Ah, how? No, everything is possible, meaning, as long as there is purification of Allah, there is no problem with any attribute established in the Book and the Sunnah.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : It occurs to me that it should be said: The attributes are like any legal ruling. Just as it is not permissible for us to affirm a legal ruling except based on legal evidence, it is even more so that we cannot affirm an attribute for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except with legal evidence. If this attribute is established for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), we affirm it, and we adhere to the principle of purification:
There is nothing like unto Him
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌThe questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And all of these people are in clear error.
The questioner : Oh Shaykh, we link this matter to an issue, for example: that mercy, if you also show mercy among yourselves
Be merciful on the earth
ارحَمُوا مَن في الأرضThe Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And also sight and hearing, that fear Allah in your deeds and similar matters?!
The Shaykh: Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.