Some students of knowledge say that al-Suqaf is a disbeliever, so what is your comment on that?

The questioner : The answer is not complete.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : I have not finished the answer.

The Shaykh : What is it?

The questioner : I asked you a question: some students of knowledge say that al-Suqaf is a disbeliever, so what is your comment on that?

The Shaykh : How is the answer not finished, my brother? Bring us a disavowal from him that he declares Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah a disbeliever, and then we will answer you about this question. You know that if you are not a believer in that he declares [him] a disbeliever, you know that he misguides.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Do you know, okay, what is the difference between misguidance and declaring someone a disbeliever? Is Ibn Taymiyyah a misguiding one and a misguidance as he says? Then yes.

The questioner: No, no.

The Shaykh : No, okay, do you know that he says about everyone who affirms the attributes, and I am among them, with a bold pen, that they are anthropomorphists? Okay, what is the ruling on anthropomorphism in Islam?

The questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : But it is not permissible.

The questioner : Misguidance...

The Shaykh : Ah, okay, so when he tells you so-and-so is an anthropomorphist, what does that mean? It means you do not want to believe in this man unless he tells you "disbeliever," just as he writes on the forehead of the Dajjal, the greatest Dajjal. That is enough, my brother. When he tells you anthropomorphist, anthropomorphist, anthropomorphist, it means disbeliever, because he says in any place that anthropomorphism is disbelief. We agree with him on that, but he accuses all the Salaf, from the four Imams and others who affirm the attributes without likening Allah to creation and without figurative interpretation, as he does. He says all of them are anthropomorphists. The greatest proof of that is to take his book which he annotated and filled with comments, and in the Syrian expression, "he shahar it." Do you know "shahar"? It is well known. He shahar it with the comments. And not only that, he dealt with the book of Ibn al-Jawzi. Whenever Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned a man from the Hanbalis and quoted from him a phrase that did not agree with Ibn al-Jawzi's opinion, whether Ibn al-Jawzi was right or wrong—that is another research—he, when he says, for example, "Abu Ya'la said," Abu Ya'la, Ibn al-Jawzi opens the crescent and says "anthropomorphist," then he closes the crescent and completes the words of Ibn al-Jawzi. The book of Ibn al-Jawzi now has dozens of words placed by this man who declares Muslim scholars disbelievers in the name of "anthropomorphist, anthropomorphist, anthropomorphist." And I, praise be to Allah, have been afflicted with him, so I also have a share of this accusation of anthropomorphist. And whoever reads my introduction to the Summary of the Oneness of Allah by Ibn al-Jawzi, by Ibn al-Dhahabi, knows fully that we are enemies of anthropomorphism, just as I am an enemy of the deniers of the divine attributes, like him. We deny the one who denies the attributes and we reject the one who likens Allah to creation, and we always say, and in this gathering we said about Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), whom he accuses of anthropomorphism, that Ibn Taymiyyah says, "The anthropomorphist worships an idol." Ibn Taymiyyah says, "The anthropomorphist worships an idol and the denier of the attributes worships non-existence." And yet you find him saying about Ibn Taymiyyah, "anthropomorphist." Allahu Akbar! Ibn Taymiyyah, who refuted the philosophers and refuted the anthropomorphists and placed it in this phrase, "The anthropomorphist worships an idol and the denier of the attributes worships non-existence," this man comes in the end of times and says Ibn Taymiyyah is an anthropomorphist. I seek refuge in Allah.

The questioner : I mean, does this...

The Shaykh : Therefore, allow me a moment. Do not hold me to the word that he said "disbeliever" or did not say it. He may have said it in gatherings and discussions, but he says it with a twisted tongue: "He gives you sweetness from the side of the tongue, and he evades you as the fox evades." So if you know and believe and find that he says "anthropomorphist," that is enough for you, my brother. We agree with him that the anthropomorphist is a disbeliever, but we do not agree with him in his accusation of the Muslims who purify Allah, who stand with affirmation in the place of affirmation and with purification in the place of purification, without likening Allah to creation and without denial of the divine attributes. It is not permissible to call them anthropomorphists, and consequently, it is not permissible to declare them disbelievers.