How do you respond to al-Zarqani, the author of *Manahil al-‘Urfan*, who denied that Allah the Exalted descends to the lowest heaven every night and argued that night remains on the earth continuously, so if He leaves one place, He settles in another, and he said with disapproval: “When, then, does He truly settle upon His Throne as you say?”

The questioner : He quotes the words of Imam al-Zarqani, the author of *Manahil al-‘Urfan*, in the second volume, page 295, after citing the hadith of the descent, addressing the people of the Sunnah: “How do you take the apparent meaning of this report, when night varies in the lands due to the difference in easts and wests? And if He descends to the people of every horizon in a real descent in the last third of their night, when does He truly settle upon His Throne as you say, and when is He in the sky as you say, while the earth is never free of night at any time or in any hour, as is established and recorded, and no one disputes this except an ignorant, deluded fool.”

The Shaykh : There is no power or might except with Allah. The answer: This question, or this doubt, or this objection, stems from likening the Creator to the created, and it is the most corrupt analogy on the face of the earth.

The questioner : Shaykh, a problem arose with the neighbors, so they took him with them to reconcile, and he apologized.

The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills. It is the most corrupt analogy on the face of the earth, and from it arose the problems of the science of theology and figurative interpretation. This is a brief introduction, and the explanation is that it is as if someone said: “How do you say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows the secret and what is even more hidden, and knows all movements and stillnesses, all in one moment? This is impossible. This is exactly like that.”

The questioner : Rather, it is more severe.

The Shaykh : It stems from likening the Creator to the created, from likening the All-Knowing of everything to the ignorant of everything, from likening the All-Ability of everything to the incapable. Regarding His settling upon His Throne, if He descends in the last third of the night, and as he said, there is night on the face of the earth in every moment, this objection—I say: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is settled upon His Throne, and it does not follow from His descent in the last third that He descends from His Throne, because this consequence stems from likening the Creator to the created, as we said, and the All-Ability to the incapable. And Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him).

The questioner : Shaykh, if you would be kind...

The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) and may Allah be pleased with him, established that good practice when he responded to that questioner’s question when he said: “O Malik, How did He settle?” He said: “The settling is known, the how is unknown, and asking about it is an innovation.” And after that speech and explanation, we summarize the answer by saying: The descent is known, the how is unknown, and asking about the how is an innovation, if not an explicit disbelief. This is the end of the answer to this question.

The questioner: May Allah honor you, my Shaykh.