Allah's Names and
Attributes in the Sunnah
Chapter Two
The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon
him) interprets the Qur'an and clarifies it, and leads
to it, and expresses its meaning. We must accept and believe in
the sound Ahadith in which the Messenger (peace be upon
him) described his Lord, The Almighty, The Exalted, such as the
hadith:
"Our Lord descends during the last third of each night to
the lower heaven, and says: 'Is there anyone who calls on Me
that I may respond to him? Is there anyone who asks Me that I
may give unto him? Is there anyone who requests My Forgiveness
that I may forgive him?"' (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and
Muslim)
And the hadith:
"Indeed, Allah is happier with the repentance of his 'abd
(worshipper) than any one of you is with finding his lost
riding camel." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"Allah laughs about two men who kill each other but both
enter paradise." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"Allah marvels about the despair of His creatures ('ibad),
while the changing of their situation from bad to good is very
near, He looks at you, and you are very desperate, so He keeps
laughing, because He knows that your relief is very close."
(Its isnad is good; reported by AhmadIbn Hanbal and others)
And the hadith:
"(On the Day of Judgment) when a group of unbelievers is
thrown into Hell, Hell asks for more until the Lord Almighty
puts His foot into it; then it folds up saying: Enough,
enough'." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"Allah The Exalted, says: 'Adam!' And Adam answers: 'Here I
am, at Your service!' Then a voice calls: 'Verily! Allah
orders you to send a delegate from your offspring to Hell'."
(Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"Allah will talk to each person directly without a mediator
between them." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on curing
the ill:
"Our Lord Allah Who is in heaven, may Your name be
sanctified, Your law is in heaven and on earth; As Your Mercy
is in heaven so make Your Mercy on earth. Forgive our faults
and our sins. You are the Lord of the good people, bestow some
of Your Mercy, and some of Your Cure on this pain that the
sick may be cured." (This hadith has good isnad, reported by
Abu Dawud and others)
And the hadith:
"Do you not trust me, while I have the trust of Him Who is
in Heaven?" (Sound hadith; reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"The Throne is above the water, and Allah is on the Throne;
He knows what you are up to." (Good hadith, reported by Abu
Dawud and others.)
And the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the
maid:
"Where is Allah?" And she answering: "In heaven." And he
saying: "Who am I?" And she saying: "You are the Messenger of
Allah." And he saying "Free her; She is a believer." (Muslim)
And the hadith:
"When any one of you stands up for prayer, you must not
spit in front of you nor to your right, because Allah is in
front to you; But you may spit to your left, or under your
foot." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the hadith:
"My Lord! The Lord of the Seven Heavens, and The Lord of
the great Throne, our Lord and The Lord of all, The Creator of
plants and trees, The Revealer of the Tawrah (Old Testament),
the Injil (New Testament) and the Qur'an: I seek refuge in You
from the evil of myself and from the evil of all creatures;
You are The First; Nothing is before You. You are The Last;
Nothing is after You. You are the Outward; Nothing is over
You. You are the Inward; Nothing is inside of You. Help me to
pay my debt and keep poverty from me." (Muslim)
And the saying (of the Prophet, peace be upon him), when his
companions raised up their voices in invocation (Dhikr):
"0 people, restrain yourselves. Indeed, you are not calling
One Who is deaf or absent; Rather, you are calling a Hearer,
One very close by; The One Who you are calling is closer to
each one of you, closer even than the neck of your riding
animal." (Agreed upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And the saying (of the Prophet, peace be upon him):
"You will see your Lord as you see the full moon; Nothing
will impair your view of Him; And if you are able to keep the
dawn prayers and the mid afternoon prayers, do it." (Agreed
upon it by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And many more of these ahadith in which the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) relates of his Lord
whatever he relates.
The Saved Group (al-firqah an-najiyah), The people
of the Sunnah and the Community believe these things, as they
believe what Allah revealed in His Precious Book (i.e., the
Qur'an); (They believe) without distorting or denying and
without asking how (takyif) or shaping (tamthil);
Rather, they comprise the center of the groups of the Ummah
(the Muslim nation), as the Ummah comprises the center
of all nations.
With regard to the Attributes of Allah, The Glorified, The
Exalted, they comprise the center between the denying
Jahmiyah and the people who shape and create likenesses (ahl
at-tamthil al-mushabbihah); And they comprise the center
between the Qadariyah and the Jabriyah with
regard to [the acts of Allah the Exalted], and between the
Murji'ah and the Wa'idiyah of the Qadariyah
and others without regard to [Allah's threat], and between the
Haruriyah and the Mu'tazilah and between the
Murji'ah and the Jahmiyah with regard to [the
names of faith and religion], and between the Rawafid
and the Khawarij with regard to the (Prophet's
Companions).
Allah is Above Everything
What we mentioned of belief in Allah included belief in what
Allah has revealed in His Book (the Qur'an), and what
has been continuously reported from His Messenger (peace be upon
him), and what the early generation of the Ummah
unanimously agreed upon: That Allah, The Glorified, is above His
heavens on His Throne, exalted above His creatures, and that He,
The Glorified, is with them wherever they be and knows whatever
they do. He summed it up in His saying:
"He is the One Who created the heavens and the earth in six
days; Then He Settled on the Throne. He knows what goes into
the earth and what comes out of it and what descends from
heavens and what ascends into it; He is with you wherever you
are; Allah sees all what you do."(al-Hadid 57/4)
His saying "He is with you" does not mean that He is
commingled with the creatures: The language does not indicate
this and it is against what the early generation of the
Ummah agreed upon, and contrary to Allah's creation of all
things; For example, the moon is one of Allah's Signs to be
found amongst the smallest of his creatures; It is placed in the
skies where it is at the same time with both the traveler and
the non-traveller, wherever they are; and He, The Glorified, is
on the Throne, watching over His creatures, ruling over them;
This is, as well as other Signs of His Lordship.
All that Allah The Glorified mentioned-that He is on the
Throne (al-'Arsh) and that He is with us-true in itself
does not warrant distortion but should be protected from false
conjectures, such as thinking that the apparent meaning of His
saying "In Heavens" means that heavens contain Him. This is
invalid according to the consensus of all the people of
knowledge and faith.
"Indeed, His Seat (Kursi) encompasses heavens and
earth, and it is He Who holds heavens and earth so they do not
perish and He Who holds heaven so that it not fall on earth
except by His Permission. "It is among His Signs that heaven
and earth stand fast by His Order." (ar-Rum 30/25)
The Closeness of Allah to His 'Ibad
Included in this is the belief that He is very close to His
creatures, responding, as He has summed it up in His saying:
"If My 'ibad (worshipers) ask you about Me; (say
that) I am very close, answering the caller when he calls on
Me." (al-Baqarah 2/186)
And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to his Companions
when they raised their voices in invocation of Allah:
"0 people! Restrain yourselves. Verily, you are not calling
One Who is deaf or absent, the One you call is nearer to each
of you than is the neck of your riding animal."
What has been revealed in the Book (i.e.,the Qur'an)
and in the Sunnah - of His Closeness and His
Concomitance - does not contradict what has been told of His
Exaltation and Highness. Indeed, Glory be to Him, there is none
like Him in all His Attributes, and He is High in His Nearness
and Near in His Highness.
The Qur'an is the Word of Allah
Part of the belief in Allah and His Books is the belief
that the Qur'an is Allah's Word revealed, not created, that in
Him it originated and unto Him it returns, that Allah truly
uttered it, that this Qur'an which He revealed to Muhammad
(peace be upon him) is truly the Word of Allah not the word of
any other, that it is not allowable to say it is a narrative of
the Word of Allah or an interpretation of it. That if the people
read it or write it in books does not mean it is not the true
Word of Allah, The Exalted, because speech is attributed to the
one who spoke it initially, not to the one who narrated it. It
is the Word of Allah, its letters and its meaning. The Word of
Allah is not the words only, without meaning, and not the
meaning only, without words.
Seeing Allah on the Day of Judgment
What we referred to of belief in Him, in His Books, and in
His Messengers includes also belief that those who believe will
see Him with their eyes, just as they see the sun on a day free
of clouds; Just as they see the full moon without obstacle, they
will see Him, The Glorified, while they are in the Courts of
Judgment; And they will see Him after entering Paradise. This is
as Allah, The Glorified, The Exalted, wills.
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