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Al-Fawqiyyah - Where is Allah? |
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There
is a question that we hear from time to time, which is, "where is
Allah?" In fact, for some people it has become a way to test other
peoples’ belief, whereas other people consider it to be a Bid’ah
question to ask.
So what is the Hukm of asking "where is
Allah?" Bearing in mind that Allah sent the messengers as a mercy and
warner and sent the messenger Muhammad (saw) as a Nur for this Ummah
until the Day of Judgment.
He
sent him in a time when the weak were eaten by the strong and the women
were humiliated or buried alive, He sent him as a mercy for mankind to
distinguish between the truth and the falsehood; so then how can we not
follow his Sunnah? Especially in the Tawheed?
That is why there
will always be Ulemaa in this Ummah who will always rise to fight any
Bid’ah that rises and to purify the book of Allah from any distortion
and from those exaggerators or distorters and also from the ignorant
who want to interpret it the way they like.
The people are
always arguing about the book of Allah, about Allah’s attributes and
his sayings and a lot of people speaking about Allah without knowledge
and so the Ulemaa will be obliged to rise to answer those questions in
the same way that the Sahabah and Tabi’een and Tabi' Tabi’een rose and
were keen never to allow people to continue being confused. They would
come out to explain the issues to the people and the prophet (saw)
said,
"The best people are my generation, then those who come
after them and then those who come after them and then there will be a
people who will give testimony before he is even asked …”
As for
this notorious question, the response of some people will be to become
angry and say that it is not allowed to ask this question, some people
will say 'I don’t know’, some will say 'Allah is everywhere' and others
will say 'he is in the heaven'; but we first need to know what is the
Hukm to ask this question?
We need to remember that we are
following those whose saying agrees with the book of Allah and the
saying of the prophet (saw) because we follow only what the prophet
(saw) brought to us, Allah (swt) says,
"Whatever the prophet gives you take it and whatever he forbids you leave it" [EMQ 59:7]
And Allah (swt) says,
“O
you who believe! obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in
authority from among you; then if you differ about any matter, refer it
to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the last day;
this is better and very good in the end.” [EMQ 4:59]
Allah
(swt) did not say, "refer to so and so sheikh", rather he said refer to
Allah and his messenger and we know that whoever obeys the messenger,
obeys Allah, Allah (swt) says,
“Whoever obeys the
Messenger; he indeed obeyed Allah and whoever turns back, so We have
not sent you as a keeper over them" [EMQ 4:80]
So even the prophet (saw), Allah declared that if they differ with the decision of the prophet, they will have punishment
“But
no! By your Lord! They do not believe (in reality) until they make you
a judge of that which has become a matter of disagreement among them,
and then do not find any hardship in their hearts as to what you have
decided and submit with entire submission” [EMQ 4:65]
And Allah (swt) says,
“Do
not hold the Messenger's calling (you) among you to be like your
calling one to the other; Allah indeed knows those who steal away from
among you, concealing themselves; therefore let those beware who go
against his order lest a trial afflict them or there befall them a
painful chastisement.” [EMQ 24:63]
So anybody who
doesn't want to follow what Allah and his messenger decided he will be
misguided and go astray. Allah (swt) says that we have no choice or
freedom
“And it is
not allowed for a believing man or a believing woman that they should
have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Messenger have
decided a matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he
surely strays off a manifest straying.” [EMQ 33:36]
Those
Ayat and others like them indicate that in any matter, in any dispute
or in any problem, that we must arbitrate to Allah and his messenger
(i.e. to the Qur'an and the Sunnah) according to the understanding of
the Sahabah and those who follow them bi Ihsaan. So what did the
prophet and his companions say about this issue of "where is Allah?"
Was there any dispute about it in their time or did this dispute come
later?
In fact we find that there was never any dispute about
it among the Sahabah but rather it all came later in the theological
books that were translated into Arabic, which some people started to
take as the school of interpretation and started to interpret the
Qur’an without to take the understanding of the Sahabah.
Furthermore,
we know the principle "there is no Ijtihad when there is clear-cut
text". So any topic that has an answer in the text, why do you want to
make Ijtihad? Verily, the Sahabah were the closest to the revelation
and the best in knowledge and understanding and for the question is
"where is Allah?" Their answer is that "Allah is in (i.e. above) the
heaven [Innallaha Fissamaa’]". That is the answer of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal
Jama'ah.
That is because Allah (swt) is the highest and hence
Allah (swt) is the highest in his place. That is not about saying that
he has a place or is holding onto the sky, nor that the sky is shaped
around Allah or that it can hold him nor does it imply that Allah is
dependant on the sky etc, all of that contradicts the mind and the
Fitrah
“Allah (swt) is in the heaven” means that he is “above
the heaven”, the term “fee” does not mean "in" it means “over”, like in
the Ayat that Allah (swt) says,
“So go about in the land
for four months and know that you cannot weaken Allah and that Allah
will bring disgrace to the unbelievers” [EMQ 9:2]
and Allah (swt) says,
“… go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!” [EMQ 16:36]
Fee
here does not mean literally ‘in’ the land but rather ‘over’ the land.
Allah (swt) is the highest over everything and the highest thing is the
sky and Allah is over the sky. This is clear in the Ahadith and the
sayings of the salaf and Allah (swt) says about himself,
"Say: Allah is one, he is Al Samad, he does not have children nor is he begotten ..." [EMQ 112: 1-3]
Everything
that Allah created is outside of his zaat; it is not part of Allah not
inside Allah. Furthermore, “Above” is the opposite of “below” and to be
below is a dispraise because whatever is under and below is usually the
place of iblees and his soldiers, however the attribute of al 'uluw
(highness or being above and the highest) is the attribute of
perfection and kamaal.
It is essential to affirm that
attribute of 'uluw. So where is the evidence that Allah is above
(fawq)? Allah (swt) says in many Ayat that he is above his creation and
among them, the heavens are also his creation and he is above and
higher than all his creation. Allah (swt) says,
"They fear their Lord above them and do what they are commanded.” [EMQ Nahl: 50]
And Allah (swt) says,
"And He is the Supreme, above His servants; and He is the Wise, the Aware.” [EMQ An’aam:18]
Allah
(swt) used this explicit term Al Fawqiyyah “to be above” and it has
been mentioned explicitly in the text and Allah (swt) also says,
"The angels will go up towards Him (swt)"
Al 'uruj is to go up without any dispute Allah (swt) says,
"the angels and the Ruh will go up ('uruj) in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years.” [EMQ Ma’aarij: 4]
And
Allah (swt) also explicitly says that the good things will go up
towards Allah (swt) and that the people will fear Allah above them,
similarly the angels will go up towards him and Allah (swt) says,
“Whoever
desires honour, then to Allah belongs the honour wholly. To Him do
ascend the good words; and the good deeds, lift them up, and (as for)
those who plan evil deeds, they shall have a severe chastisement; and
(as for) their plan, it shall perish.” [EMQ Fatir: 10]
And Allah (swt) says,
“No! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.” [EMQ Nisa: 158]
And Allah (swt) says,
“And
when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay
(on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who
disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to
the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l will
decide between you concerning that in which you differed.” [EMQ 3:55]
And
another evidence that Allah is the highest and above everything, in his
honour, his status and position etc is that Allah (swt)
"Allah is the highest and greatest" [EMQ 22:62]
And Allah (swt) says,
"He is the highest, mightiest" [EMQ 2: 255]
If
he is the highest, that means everything is under him and that is why
whatever he reveals to the creation, he sends it down to them, Allah
(swt) says,
"He is the one who sends down the Qur’an;
some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and
others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is
perversity they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to
mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation. But none
knows its interpretation except Allah, and those who are firmly rooted
in knowledge say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none
do mind except those having understanding.” [EMQ 3: 7]
Moreover, Allah (swt) spoke about those closest to Allah,
“Surely
those who are with your Lord are not too proud to serve Him, and they
declare His glory and prostrate in humility before Him.” [EMQ 7: 206]
“And
whoever is in the heavens and the earth is His; and those who are with
Him are not proud to serve Him, nor do they grow weary.” [EMQ anbiyaa:
19]
So the ayah distinguishes between those who are in
the heavens and earth and those who are the specific servants from the
angels who are close to him. It is narrated in Tirmizi and Nasaa’i from
Nu'man bin Basheer that the prophet (saw) said,
"Allah has
decreed from before he created the heavens and the earth 2000 years,
and he is above the throne, and he sent down two verses that will never
be written in any house three nights except that the Shaytaan will not
be near to them"
And Allah (swt) says,
“Are you
secured from the one in the heaven that He should not make the earth to
swallow you up? Then lo! It shall be in a state of commotion” [EMQ
Mulk: 16]
“Fee” in this ayah without any dispute means
“'alaa” i.e. above, though some people tried to make interpretation
that the ones who are above the heavens are the angels and not Allah
but all the Ahadith disprove them. It is narrated in Musnad Imam Ahmed,
Abu Dawood and Tirmizi that Abdullah ibn Amru narrated that the prophet
(saw) said,
"Those who are merciful, Allah will be merciful
with them, be merciful with those who are in the earth and the one who
is above the heavens will be merciful with you."
This Hadith
specifically mentions Al Rahman to have mercy on you from above the
heavens and the one who forgives and grants mercy is Allah. Also, Allah
(swt) told us about the bad soul and the good soul, Abu Hurairah
narrated that the prophet (saw) said,
"The good soul will be taken up towards Allah (swt) and then Allah has ordered to record his servant among the highest.”
In
addition, the term istiwaa' that people always argue about always came
explicitly with the term 'alaa (over or above) and with mention of the
throne, which is a creation of Allah. Allah (swt) says that he is above
his throne and his throne is above all other creation, so when we say
Allah is above his throne that doesn't mean that Allah is relying on
his throne but we affirm that Allah is above all his creation and
nothing is above him. When Allah (swt) says,
"Al Rahman rises above his throne" [EMQ 20: 5]
And 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, jinn and all that
exists)!” [EMQ 7: 54]
So Allah has Al Istiwaa'
literally and not metaphorically, and the Hadith in Tirmizi and Musnad
Imam Ahmed narrates that the prophet (saw) said,
"Allah is so generous and shy if a person raises his hands towards him (i.e. above) ..."
So
the prophet (saw) said clearly that we raise our hands up towards Allah
(swt). Allah (swt) also informed us about his descending to the heaven
of the Dunya in Bukhari and Muslim, the prophet (saw) said,
"Allah
descends every night to the sky of the Dunya, he will say "who is
seeking help from me, I will help him and who is seeking guidance from
me I will guide him"
Descending is the one who was above and
then went down to what was lower than Him (swt). It is also narrated
how the prophet (saw) said,
"You will be asked about me so
what will you say?" they said, "we will testify that you conveyed the
message, you advised us ..." and then the prophet (saw) rose his hands
up towards the one who is highest and said "did I convey the message? O
Allah testify."
Another Hadith which speaks about the wife of
the Messenger Muhammad (saw), and how some of his wives felt proud over
other wives because they were married to the Prophet (saw), and Zainab
was the best to messenger (saw) because of her family, she said to them
“All of you were married to the Prophet (saw) by your parents
but was married to the messenger (saw) by the one above the heavens”
Umm ul Mu’mineen Zainab affirmed that Allah is above the heavens in this Hadith.
Furthermore,
when people talk about the question, "where is Allah? [ain Allah?]”
This is a question with explicit terms in Arabic and cannot be
interpreted to mean something else and it is narrated how the Messenger
(saw) said to the servant "where is Allah?" [ain Allah?].
Despite
this some people are angry from this question and they say that it
causes Fitnah, but they forget that Allah declared that those who have
a disease in their hearts and are weak will always try to make
interpretation and make Fitnah. Allah (swt) says,
"He
it is Who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are
decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical;
then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the
part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give
it (their own) interpretation. But none knows its interpretation except
Allah, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in
it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having
understanding.” [EMQ 3:7]
Al Mutashabihaat is that
which has some similarity in their meaning with the meaning of the
creation, it is mentioned in Tafseer al tabari that ibn Abbas said,
"Al
Tafseer is four ways, the way the Arabs know from their words, others
that nobody will have excuse because of ignorance, others nobody will
know it but the scholars and others nobody will know it but Allah."
Those
issues like the letters ‘alif laam meem etc’, or the time-limit and
ajal or the date of the hour or when Isa will be sent down, nobody
knows them except Allah and nobody can interpret them, but the other
type of mutashabihaat will be elaborated by the scholars. So Allah made
it clear that we have to refer to the Ulemaa and we should not try to
understand it from our logic or reason.
However, some people go
further than that and say that the whole Qur’an in its comprehensivity
has certain tashaabuh (similarity) between the verses so therefore,
they will think that the book of Allah has similarity in every word
with the creation and they will wish to purify everything that Allah
says implying as if Allah has never said anything pure.
In fact there is no Tashaabuh, Allah (swt) says,
“Allah
has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful Message in the form
of a Book, consistent with itself, (yet) repeating (its teaching in
various aspects): the skins of those who fear their Lord tremble
thereat; then their skins and their hearts do soften to the celebration
of Allah's praises. Such is the guidance of Allah. He guides therewith
whom He pleases, but such as Allah leaves to stray, can have none to
guide." [EMQ 39:23]
So the one who says "Allah is in
the heaven" he is not making any similarity for Allah to the creation.
That is what happened with the servant when a man had relationship in
Ramadhan, the Prophet (saw) ordered him to free a believing slave, so
they brought a slave and he (saw) asked her,
"Where is Allah?"
she replied, "He is above the heaven" he (saw) asked, "who am I?" she
said, "You are Rasulullah" so he said to the man, "free her because she
is Mu’min."
Some people say that they addressed her according to
her level of mind because she didn't know Arabic well but the Hadith
explained that she even pointed her finger towards the sky indicating
that she knew what she meant.
Some people insist further that
her pointing he finger was because she didn't speak Arabic but we know
how that is not a strange phenomena, rather there are many speeches
that the prophet (saw) pointed his finger towards the sky also, so that
has nothing to do with speaking Arabic or not.
He (saw) asked
her in order to test her Imaan and he testified that she is a believer
because she said that Allah is above the sky, she did not answer that
“he is everywhere” nor that “He is under the sky” and the prophet (saw)
said she is a believer and he does not speak expect Wahi.
Moreover,
Allah (swt) is everywhere in his knowledge but not in his zaat, he is
above his throne, distant from his creation and he is not needy for it.
Allah (swt) says,
“And
Fir’awn said: O Haman! Build for me a tower that I may attain the means
of access to the heavens, and then see if there is a god of Musa, and I
surely think him to be a liar. And thus the evil of his deed was made
fairseeming to Fir’awn, and he was turned away from the way; and the
struggle of Fir’awn was not (to end) in aught but destruction.” [EMQ
ghafir: 36-37]
Moreover
it is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim that the prophet (saw) informed us
how he went up to his lord and down to Musa in the Mi’raaj a few times
to determine the number of Salah, when he reduced it on the advice of
Musa (as) from 50 Salah to 5 Salah and Allah (swt) said to him that
they are 5 Salah but the reward of 50.
Moreover, another
evidence is that the people of Jannah will see Allah the way that they
see the sun and the moon above them, so they are going to look to Allah
even in Jannah above them.
So we cannot deny Al Fawqiyyah the
way that the jahmees denied seeing Allah and that He is above whereas
Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama'ah affirm it. However, besides the Jahmies there
was another people, those who affirmed seeing Allah but denied His
(swt) being above, they were the people of Ta’weel. Sheikh ul Islam abu
isma'eel al ansaari narrated in his book Al Farouq with isnaad mutassil
to Al Balkhee, the companion of abu Hanifah that he asked Abu Hanifah
"What
do you think of someone who says I don’t know if Allah is in the heaven
or the earth" he said "he has disbelieved because Allah said that "Al
Rahman is above his throne, and his throne is above the seven heavens"
Al balkhee continued, "and if he said "I do not know if the throne is
in the heavens or in the earth?" he said, "he is Kafir because he
denied that Allah is above the heavens because Allah is the highest of
All."
And it is mentioned by ibn Abdul birr that Imam Maalik said,
"Allah is above the sky and his knowledge is everywhere"
That is why in the books of the Usul, Imam Al Talamanki in Jami' al Usul said,
"Allah by himself sits above his throne, distant from it"
And Imam Maalik said as narrated by Imam Abdul Rahman from Imam Shafi'i,
"The
saying of the Sunnah whom I follow and I adopt and my companions from
Ahl al Hadith follow like Sufyan and Maalik and others is that iqraar
is to testify that there is no one worthy to be worshipped except Allah
and Muhammad is the messenger and Allah is above his throne above the
heavens and he comes close to his creation the way he wishes and he
comes down to the sky the way he wishes."
And Imam Al Khallal in Kitab Al Sunnah that Abdullah ibn Ahmed said,
"I
asked Imam Ahmed about the one who said that Allah being above the
throne is not known ... Imam Ahmed said, "All their sayings is going
around the Kufr"
And also been mentioned by one of the scholars of the salaf,
"I asked Imam Ahmed about the saying of Allah,
"whenever
three are alone, Allah is the fourth with them ..." he said, "they take
the last of the ayah and leave the beginning, Allah (swt) says,
Seest
thou not that Allah doth know (all) that is in the heavens and on
earth? There is not a secret consultation between three, but He makes
the fourth among them, - Nor between five but He makes the sixth,- nor
between fewer nor more, but He is in their midst, wheresoever they be:
In the end will He tell them the truth of their conduct, on the Day of
Judgment. For Allah has full knowledge of all things.” [EMQ 58:7] ... Allah (swt) is with them in his knowledge"
Moreover,
there are many incidents like this among the salaf. Abu Yusuf (rh) was
the student of Abu Hanifah and when he heard bishril muraysi saying in
the Sujud "subhana Rabbiyal asfal" instead to say "a'laa" he said,
"This man denied "glorify the name of your lord the highest"" and he
wanted to implement the hudud upon him.
And when Abdullah ibn Mubarak was asked,
"Where
is Allah?" he said, "Allah is above the heavens by his Zaat and he is
distant from his creation but he is with them with his knowledge"
Allah
is not needy from his creation, he is Ghani and he is above all his
creation and the highest of his creation is his throne and he is above
that too. Ibn khuzaymah in taareekh naysabur mentioned as narrated by
Saalih ibn haani that
“imam al a'immah Abu Bakr ibn khuzaymah
said, "the one who does not confess that Allah is above his throne
above the seven heavens and that he is distant from his creation, he is
Kafir and must repent, if he repents it is good and if he rejects we
will strike his neck and whoever denied seeing Allah in the hereafter
is more evil than the Jews and Christians and majoos"
All the
Ulemaa of the salaf said the same, Imam Al Tabari in taareekh al Sunnah
mentioned it also and in Aqeedah al waasitiyyah, ibn Taymiyyah said,
"Allah
is above his throne above his heavens and he is with his creation
wherever they are in knowing what they are doing. Allah (swt) says,
"he
is the one who created the heavens and the earth in six days then he
sat above his throne and he knows everything that comes in and out of
the land and what comes down from the sky, everything and he is with
you where you are, knowing what you are doing" [EMQ 57:4].
The
example of how Allah is above his throne and with us wherever we are in
his knowledge at the same time, is how we see the moon and that is one
of the creation of Allah, it is so small in the sky and yet it is with
the traveller wherever he is, visible. Allah better and higher than the
moon and is with you wherever you go, monitoring all of his creation,
He knows whatever they are doing and that is all the meaning of Al
Rububiyyah.
When Allah says that he is above the throne, that is
Haq and there is no need for interpretation and the Tafseer narrated by
Abu Haatim that ibn Abbas said on the ayah,
“"Allah is with you wherever you are" that he knows what you are doing wherever you are."
Allah (swt) also says,
“And He it is Who is in the heavens the Lord and in the earth the Lord; and He is the Wise, the Knowing.” [EMQ zukhruf: 84]
The Tafseer of which was mentioned,
“That
is that those in the heaven and the earth are servants of Allah,
worshipping him and he knows your inner and outer and knows what you
are doing."
There is no reason for people to leave the
interpretation of the salaf when they are the best people to know,
Abdullah ibn Mas’oud said,
"whoever wants to follow, follow
the one who passed away before, because the one who is alive there is
no protection from the Fitnah coming to him, ... the companions of the
messenger are the best so follow them and do not innovate."
It is also narrated by uday ibn haatim,
"I
came to the prophet with a cross of gold on my neck" he said, "o uday
throw this wathn from your neck" so I threw it, he was reciting Surah
baraa'ah "they took their rabbis and priests as lords instead of Allah"
I said "we did not worship them" he said "didn't they make Haram what
Allah made Halal and Halal what Allah made Haram and you followed
them?" I said "yes" he said "that is how you used to worship them..."
[Tirmizi]
We do not want to follow the scholars who contradict
Allah and His (swt) Messenger (saw), who change the Aqeedah and leave
the text to follow ration and philosophy. So if anyone asks you “where
is Allah?” Say without to hesitate that “Allah is above his throne,
above the seven heavens, distant from his creation and his knowledge is
everywhere wherever you go.” Declare it loudly and proudly and if you
do not want to debate it, then go to your Fitrah, the Imaan of the
children and you will know that Allah is the highest above everything
else or even ask any child “where is Allah?” you will find him looking
up to the sky. |
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