What is the correct view in interpreting the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And He is with you wherever you are” and His saying: “And We are closer to him than his jugular vein”?

The questioner : All right, here he says, “I let you know that I love you for the sake of Allah.”

The Shaykh : Allah loves him.

The questioner : He asks and says: In many tafsirs, if not all, they interpret the saying of Allah the Exalted: as meaning that He, Glorified is He, is with us by His knowledge, hearing, and sight. And they interpret His saying the Exalted: as meaning that the angels are the ones close to us. What is your opinion, O your eminence, if we depart from this interpretation and say that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is with us in a manner befitting His majesty, and is close to us in a closeness befitting His majesty?

The Shaykh : This to which the questioner has come is acceptable in general. However, specifically regarding His saying the Exalted: , the reason is the interpretation of this verse. And when I say interpretation, I mean the authentic Arabic meaning, which is tafsir (exegesis), because ta'wil (interpretation) has two meanings: a linguistic meaning and a later technical meaning. The linguistic meaning is tafsir. And when He, the Exalted, said in the Noble Qur'an: , He means this meaning, which is tafsir, and that is what the matter ultimately leads to. It does not mean ta'wil in the technical sense, which is: taking the meaning of a certain verse or hadith away from its apparent meaning to another meaning, either due to a legal or rational indication, as they say. So ta'wil in the sense of interpreting the text contrary to what comes to mind is this technical meaning. As for ta'wil in the sense of tafsir, it is the authentic, old, legal and Arabic meaning, and the usage of the Qur'an revolved around this, as you heard: . And similarly, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated for Abdullah ibn Abbas and said about him: , he did not intend by ta'wil here that he would be skilled like the scholars of kalam (theology) who nullify the legal texts by interpreting them and taking them away from their correct implications. No, the intended meaning is: O Allah, grant him deep understanding in the religion and teach him tafsir, meaning the tafsir of the Qur'an. And so it was; Allah, Mighty and Majestic, answered the supplication of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and Ibn Abbas, despite his young age, became the interpreter of the Qur'an. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) died when Ibn Abbas was on the verge of puberty. He died while Ibn Abbas was still young in age, yet he was truly the interpreter of the Qur'an. It is established from Ibn Abbas that he interpreted this verse. And on that basis, I say that he interpreted it in what some people call ta'wil in the technical sense, meaning he took the meaning away from its apparent sense. That is not the case. And when he said, “His saying the Exalted: by His knowledge,” this is not ta'wil in the technical sense, meaning it should have been said as it appears from his words.

The questioner : “And He is with you by His Essence,” or that he should remain silent and not interpret it. As long as Ibn Abbas interpreted this phrase of this verse to mean: “And He is with you wherever you are by His knowledge,” this is an interpretation by the interpreter of the Qur'an. And secondly, it is not ta'wil in the technical sense, meaning he did not take the implication of the verse away from its apparent meaning. Rather, the implication of the context and the preceding text, each of them supports this by which the interpreter of the Qur'an interpreted this noble verse. Perhaps you can bring us the verse.

The questioner : ؟

The Shaykh : Yes, and what comes before it.

The questioner : It says: .

The Shaykh : He knows the witness. He started with the verse: . Ah, so means: by His knowledge. Therefore, we must note that when we say we are with the Book and the Sunnah, and we do not limit our claim to that, but we add: “and what the righteous Salaf were upon,” this addition is: so that we do not fall into excess and deficiency, as the other sects did, who did not adhere to this correct scientific methodology: the Book and the Sunnah and what the righteous Salaf were upon. We want to understand the Book and the Sunnah as the righteous Salaf did. No one from the scholars of the righteous Salaf, whether a Companion, a Successor, or from those who followed them, stopped at this verse, as far as we know. And we have just mentioned from Ibn Abbas, and the exegetes followed this, such as Ibn Jarir and Ibn Kathir: , meaning by His knowledge. This is not ta'wil as they interpreted to mean “dominated,” or to mean: “Your Lord came as a mercy,” and the like. All of this is ta'wil, indeed nullification (ta'til). The previous interpretation we mentioned for the verse is not this type of ta'wil, but rather the interpretation indicated by the Arabic style. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) gives many examples of this, wanting to show people that what some people call ta'wil in the later technical sense is not so, but it is tafsir. If an Arab man says: “The gutter flowed,” what does “the gutter flowed” mean? It means rain flowed in the gutter. Ah, is this ta'wil? No, it is not ta'wil. Why? Because no Arab who used this word would imagine that the gutter actually flowed due to the intense heat that fell on it. No one understands this speech. What is the concept that comes to mind? Whose mind? The Arab's. When he hears his companion say: “The gutter flowed,” he understands nothing but that it rained until the gutter flowed. Similarly, His saying the Exalted: “Ask the village.” No Arab understands its walls, its trees, its land, its river, and so on. No, “Ask the village” means: ask its inhabitants. And so it is with “the caravan,” meaning the caravan that was with the caravan, and so on. This is not ta'wil. Therefore, let no one among us Salafis be led to believe that if we interpret the previous verse as it came from Ibn Abbas: , that this is ta'wil. We do not interpret (ta'wil); we submit. We say it is so, but this is not ta'wil. We submit and do not interpret, and we carry the verses, especially the verses of attributes and the hadiths of attributes, as they came, without ta'wil and without ascribing a body to Allah (tajsim). But this verse: “by His knowledge,” is not ta'wil, but rather the correct meaning linguistically and by transmission from Ibn Abbas. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.