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Al Istawaa - Allah’s (swt) Position over His Throne

THE POSITIONS OF THE SECTS ON Al ASMAA’ WAL SIFAAT - THE NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH (SWT)

The sects in the past were never like today, they never had a problem in obeying Allah (swt), when something is known by all people to be haram, they called it haram and refrained from it. They were not like today when Allah and His Messenger, and the companions, and all the Muslims know a thing to be haram, only for Shari’ah TV to make it Halal.

In the past they disputed over the Zaat of Allah (swt), whether or not Allah had a face or fingers or not etc.

Someone may ask why we study this type of topic or may question the importance of the topic; we study it simply because we love Allah (swt). Men, if they love a woman they want to know everything about her, her name, her attributes, what she looks like, what she sounds like, they want to meet, yet when it comes to Allah they do not want to know him. It cannot be that you love Allah and yet you do not want to know anything about him.

If we love Allah correctly, we seek to know everything about Him (swt), his names, his attributes, his functions etc; the fruits of that imaan is that for example we will never fear anybody because we know that Allah is the one who gives and takes life, we will know that our rizq is guaranteed and will never fear poverty.

However, when we speak about the attributes of Allah, about his face, his hands, his body, his legs, his fingers, people begin to wonder if we are speaking about Allah or a man, and in order to purify and elevate Allah they interpret Allah’s attributes to mean something else (this is Al Ta’weel), or they negate it in order to prevent any similarity between Allah and his creation (Al Ta’qeel).

Others affirm whatever Allah (swt) says about himself without interpreting his sayings nor to bring new meaning to what Allah has already declared clearly (Al Tathbeet).

Mu’awwilah – School of interpretation (Ta’weel):

Zaatullah(the Self of Allah): No Zaat, only soul

Yadd Allah(hands of Allah): Support

Muthabbitah – School of Affirmation (Tathbeet):

Zaatullah(the Self of Allah): Himself (swt)

Yadd Allah(hands of Allah): Hand

Wajeh Allah(face of Allah): Face

Asaabi’ Allah(fingers of Allah): Finger

Saaq Al Rahman(shin of Allah): Shin

Qadam Al Rahman(the foot of Allah): Foot

Daahek Al Rahman(laughter of Allah): Laughter

Mu’aqillah – School of Negation (Ta’teel):

Zaatullah(the Self of Allah): No Zaat, no soul

Yadd Allah(hands of Allah): No hand

Wajeh Allah(face of Allah): No Face

Asaabi’ Allah(fingers of Allah): No Finger

Saaq Al Rahman(shin of Allah): No Shin

Qadam Al Rahman(the foot of Allah): No Foot

Daahek Al Rahman(laughter of Allah): No Laughter

Allah (swt) says,

“We taught Adam all the names of all things, then He showed them to the angels and said, “Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful.” They (angels) said: “Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what you have taught us. Verily, it is You, the All-Knower, the All-Wise.” ” [EMQ 2: 32-33]

AL ISTIWA’

One of the names disputed by Ahl Al Bid’ah from Al Mu’awilah and A Mu’attilah is the position of Allah over his throne. According to Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah Allah (swt) is above his throne and this topic is called Mas’alat Al ‘Ulow Wal Fawqiyyah The topic of ascension and loftiness.

Al Istiwa is to sit and to ascend, but those who make ta’weel add a laam to make it istawla, i.e. to control; that claim is similar to accusing Jibreel (as) of making a mistake on the same word eight times in the Qur’an or to claim that the qur’an has mistakes.

THE AYAT OF AL ISTIWA

Allah (swt) says,

“He is the one who created all the earth for you and then made istiwa’...“ [EMQ 2: 28-29]

Allah (swt) says,

“Indeed your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in Six Days, and then He Istawa (rose over) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty). He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the sun, the moon, the stars subjected to His Command. Surely, His is the Creation and Commandment. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)!” [EMQ 7: 54]

Allah (swt) says,

“Surely, your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and then Istawa (rose over) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty), disposing the affair of all things. No intercessor (can plead with Him) except after His Leave. That is Allah, your Lord; So worship Him (Alone). Then, will you not remember?” [EMQ Yunus: 3]

Allah (swt) says,

“Alif-Lam-Mim-Ra. These are the Verses of the Book (the Qur’an), and that which has been revealed unto you (Muhammad SAW) from your Lord is the truth, but most men believe not. Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see. Then, He Istawa (rose above) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty). He has subjected the sun and the moon (to continue going round)! Each running (its course) for a term appointed. He regulates all affairs, explaining the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) in detail, that you may believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord.” [EMQ Ra’d: 1-2]

Allah (swt) says,

“A revelation from Him (Allah) Who has created the earth and high heavens. The Most Beneficent (Allah) Istawa (rose over) the (Mighty) Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty).” [EMQ Ta Ha: 4-5]

Allah (swt) says,

“Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six Days. Then He Istawa (rose over) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). The Most Beneficent (Allah)! Ask Him (O Prophet Muhammad SAW), (concerning His Qualities, His rising over His Throne, His creations, etc.), as He is Al-Khabir (The All- Knower of everything i.e. Allah).” [EMQ Furqan: 59]

Allah (swt) says,

“Allah it is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them in six Days. Then He Istawa (rose over) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). You (mankind) have none, besides Him, as a Wali (protector or helper etc.) or an intercessor. Will you not then remember (or be admonished)?” [EMQ 32: 4]

Allah (swt) says

“he is the one who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then made istiwa over his throne.” [EMQ Hadid: 4]

This topic is to do with Al Istiwa, Al Istiwa is Ascension, it is the attribute of Allah (swt); that is His (swt) ascension over his throne as Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah believe. Other people argue that if Allah is over his throne then that means he is needy for the throne and they say that rather He (swt) is everywhere. Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah however believe that He (swt) is above his throne, above the heavens, distant from his creation and the throne is his creation.

In fact if someone says, ‘Allah is everywhere’ testify that he is not from Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah; one of the attributes of Ahl Al Sunnah wal Jama’ah is that they confirm Allah’s saying about himself that he is over his throne.

AHL AL SUNNAH WAL JAMA’AH ON AL ISTIWA

They refer to the understanding of the companions of Muhammad (saw) in all matters and there is consensus among the companions that Allah is above his throne. Imam Al Uzaa’ie (d.157H) was tabi’, he met the companions of Muhammad (saw) and he was known as the second Imam Shafi’I (who died in 192H) though he was from before him, he was from Ahl Al Hadith. He confirmed the consensus of the confirmation of the tabi’een regarding the ascension of Allah above his throne, He said,

“We and all the remaining tabi’ say that Allah is above his throne, we believe in whatever the sunnah describes about His (swt) attributes.” [Mukhtasar Al ‘Uluw p137 - Imam Dhahabi, & Al Asmaa Wal Sifaat – Baihaqi, & Fath ul Baari Sharh Al Bukhari – ibn Hajar v13 p417]

Imam Qutaibah bin Sa’eed was a great tabi’ tabi’ (b.150H - d. 240H), he said,

“Allah is above his throne, that is the saying of the imams in Islam and Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah, we believe Allah is above the seven heavens above his throne, the way Allah said, “Al Rahman is above his throne.””

So in the past, they had no problem to believe in Allah’s ascension over his throne without asking ‘how?’ and without to interpret his attribute nor to negate it. We do not need to ask how or rationally attribute meaning that he is needy for the throne,

Allah is above His throne and His ascension is in accordance to His Almighty majesty, it is not like the ascension of man, the way that Allah sees and hears in accordance to his quality and majesty and the seeing and hearing of men is in accordance to his weakness and there is a world of difference between the seeing and hearing of men and that of Allah. Imam Dhahabi said,

“Who is better than Imam Qutaibah in his imamah? … he transmitted the consensus in all topics of Allah’s istiwa, he met Imam Maalik and Laith ibn Sa’d and … and the highest ulema’ and he lived for a long time.” [Bayan al talbees al jahmiyyah v2 p37]

He lived a long time and met a lot of ulemah, he was born in the year of the birth of Imam Shafi’i and died in the year of the death of Imam Ahmed, he was qualified to report this consensus.

Furthermore, the Muhaddith Zakaria Al Saaji (d.307H) said,

“The saying of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah, those who I saw our friends from Ahl Al Hadith whom we met, is that Allah (swt) is over his throne over his heaven, he could come near to his creation how he wishes.” [Mukhtasar Al ‘Uluw – Imam Dhahabi p223 and the gathering of all the Islamic armies – ibn Qayyim p245]

Sheikh Al Saaji is the sheikh known as the Sheikh of one Imam of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah, he was the sheikh of Imam Abu Hasan Al Ash’ari who took Ilm ul Hadith from Sheikh Al Saaji.

Moreover, Ibn Qayyim In his nuniyyah explained how Allah is over his throne in poetry he said,

“It has been transmitted to us 10 transmissions explaining how Allah is over his throne, and I will give another quotation … among them is that Allah is over his throne that is in the 7 surahs of ahkaam in the heart of the Qur’an. … ”

Allah (swt) says,

“… Allah is Al ‘Aliy Al ‘Aleem” [EMQ 2: 255]

and Allah (swt) says,

“Glory to your lord Al A’la.” [EMQ A’la: 1]

A’la is the highest, and Al ‘Uluw is to be above, these ayat are enough to understand that Allah’s ‘uluw is absolute, he is the highest, Sheikh ul Hanabilah, ibn Batta Al Akburi (b.304H - d.387) said,

“It is the consensus of the Muslims from the sahabah and the tabi’een and all people of Ilm that Allah (swt) is over his throne above the heavens, distant from his creation but his knowledge surrounds all his creation. No one denied that nor rejected it, except those who followed the school of hululiyyah (those who embodied Allah), and they are people whose heart is blind and the shaytan follows them and they come out of the deen and they say, ‘there is no place in the earth that does not contain the zaat of Allah.’” [Al Ibana ‘an Shari’atu Firqatun Najiyah – chapter of “Allah above his throne, distance from his creation” v3 p136]

It was this belief that Allah is everywhere by his zaat that led to the apostasy of bin Arabi, who insisted on this belief even when asked about if Allah is under his own clothes whereas there was nothing but himself under his cloak, and so he proclaimed “I am Allah, Allah is in me.” and he became kafir. Rather we believe as Imam ibn Batta Al Akburi said that Allah is distant from all his creation, and the nearest creation to him is his throne and that is unique for Allah. Imam Dhahabi said about Imam Al Akburi that,

“Imam ibn Batta Al Akburi, is one of the greatest imams of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah, a man of zuhd, fiqh, Sunnah and Ittiba’” [Mukhtasar Al Uluw p252]

Imam Abu Omar Al Talamanki Al Andalusi, an alim of tabi’ tabi’een (b.339H - d429H) wrote a book called, “Reaching the knowledge of usul ul fiqh”, he said,

“There is consensus of the Muslims from Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah that the ayah that says, “Allah is with you wherever you are,” means that His (swt) knowledge is with you wherever you are and He (swt) is above his heavens by his zaat, and he is over his throne the way he likes, Allah (swt) says, “Al Rahman is over his throne,” the sitting (istiwa) of Allah over his throne is real (haqiqi) and not metaphoric.”

Imam Dhahabi said,

“Imam Talamanki was the biggest hafiz and Imam of the qurra’ in Al Andalus.” [Mukhtasar Al ‘Uluw] and in the [Fattawa of ibn Taymiyyah, and Talbees Al Jahmiyyah v2 p38]

Sheikh ul Islam Abu Uthman Al Thaabuni was known as the faqih and muhaddith of Naysaburi (b.372H d.449H), he wrote in all forms of ulum ul deen, and that is why we call him Sheikh ul Islam,

“The people of hadith believe and testify that Allah is over the seven heavens and over his throne the way his book mentioned, and the ulemah of the ummah and the selected of the a’immah (i.e. the four Imams) from the salaf never disagreed that Allah is over his throne and his throne is above the seven heavens.”

AL SAHABAH AND THE A’IMMAH ON AL ISTIWA’

There is clearly an established Ijma’ of the Sahabah and the tabi’een and all muslims and ulemah of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah that Allah is above his throne without how, but we can put forward one or two direct examples from the sahabah here.

The prophet (saw) asked a woman in testing her Imaan, “where is Allah?” she pointed to the heavens, he (saw) asked her who he was, she said, “the messenger of Allah” and he testified her to be Muslim. So the sahabah understood that Allah was above the heavens that is why we find in Tafseer ul Qurtubi of Surah Ta Ha v5, that ibn Abbas said about it,

“Al Rahman sits over his throne the way that matches with his majesty.” [Qurtubi]

And Tafseer Qurtubi on Surah Furqan v59, where Allah says,

“… and then he sat over his throne,”

Abdullah ibn Mas’oud said,

“He sat over his throne, distant from it.” [Qurtubi]

And in ibn Kathir on Surah Yunus v3, ibn kathir reported,

“That ayah has been understood by the companions of the messenger (saw) that he sits over his throne, from ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Mas’oud, Zaid ibn Thaabit, Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Atta, Qatada” [ibn Kathir]

Furthermore we have a clear consensus among the a’immah of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah, but there is no harm to put forward an example from each of the four Imams, Imam Abu Hanifah said in Al Fiqh al Absat,

“Allah will never be described by the attributes of his creation, his anger and happiness are his attributes without how and that is the saying of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah. He becomes angry and happy and we cannot say his anger is his punishment, or that his pleasure is his reward and we describe Him the way he describes himself, he is ahad, samad he has no parents and no children and there is nothing like him, he is hayyu (alive), qadirun, samee’ (hearer), baseer’ (seer), Aalim (knowledgeable), his hands are over their hands and not like the hands of his creation, and his face is not like the face of his creation and we confess that Allah is sitting above his throne without any need for it.” [Fiqh al Absat p10]

Abu Hanifah affirmed all Allah’s attributes that are disputed in this one saying in the same way as the other Imams believed including Imam Maalik. Abdullah ibn Rafi’ narrated that,

“Imam Maalik said, Allah is in the heaven and his knowledge is everywhere.”

Imam Shafi’i said,

“The saying on the Sunnah that I follow and I see our companions follow, and those I met from Ahl Al Hadith follow whom I learned from, Sufyan, Maalik is to testify that there is none worthy to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and that Allah is over his thrown above the seven heavens, he comes near to his creation the way he likes and he descends to the first heaven the way he likes.” [Kitab Ijtimaa’ Al Juyush – ibn Qayyim p165] and [Sifa Sifaat ul Uluw p124]

Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal said,

“We believe Allah is above his throne the way he likes in the form he likes without any limit and without any description, no-one can describe it nor define it, his description is from him and will return to him, he is the way he describes himself and no one can reach his description.” [Preventing the contradiction between the text and the mind v2 p30 for ibn Taymiyyah]

It is strange however given the established and widespread ijma’ (consensus) of All sahabah, tabi’een and tabi’ tabi’een, Muslims & ulemah of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama’ah throughout the ages, we still find some people who refuse to refer to the best people of this ummah. They find difficulty in testifying to the words of Allah (swt) about himself, instead they insist to bring new meanings for Allah’s sayings or to negate them completely. They ignore the four Imams and the sayings of so many other ulemah, even ignoring the testimony of best people to walk the earth after the anbiyaa; they have truly begun to believe that their own understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an and the Sunnah is better than Abu Bakr Al Siddiq, than Umar ibn Khattab, than Uthman or Ali, or better than Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Mas’oud. They reject to follow the understanding of the people guaranteed paradise, they reject to follow those given the best reference from the seventh heaven over Which Allah (swt) Himself is risen. Despite Allah (swt) being pleased with them and their aqeedah, some people are not pleased with following their aqeedah; rather they insist to put their own ration and mind before them, they wish to believe as they like when Allah informed us,

“If they believe as you (the prophet (saw) and his companions) believe, then they will be guided.”

Verily the only correct path to follow and to gain any understanding of Islam is to follow the path of the sahabah of the prophet (saw), they are Al Salaf Al Saaleh and Muhammad (saw) was their Imam and our Imam, Al Imam Al Salaf. Their understanding is the best understanding and it is binding upon us, we cannot understand Tawheed or Imaan without them as they are the people of Tawheed, whom the kalima and the deen is fused to them and to follow any path other than theirs is a deviance and great misguidance. O Allah keep us firm on their path and protect us from any deviance from it.

From alghurabaa.co.uk