Tawhidul-Asma' Was-Sifat is to firmly believe in that which Allaah has informed us about in His Book and in authentic Prophetic narrations, concerning His exalted Attributes and Beautiful Names, that they are of a nature befitting with His Majesty, Greatness and Magnificence. Among Allaah's Attributes are: Life, {Allaah, there is none who has the right to be worshipped but He, the Ever-living, the one Who sustains and protects all that exists.} [2:225]. Knowledge, {And they will never encompass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills.} [2:225] and, {Should He not know what He created? And He is the Most Courteous (to His slaves), the Well-acquainted (will all things).} [67:14] Intent, {Verily His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it: "Be!" And it is.} [36:82]. Ability, {And Allaah is able to do all things.} [48:21]. Hearing and Sight, {And Allaah is ever the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.} [4:134]. Speech, {..and to Moses, Allaah spoke directly.} [4:164] and, {when Moses came at the time and place appointed by Us, and His Lord spoke to him.} [7:143]. Mercy, {In the Name of Allaah, the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving.} [16:36]. Love, {..whom He will love and they will love Him.} [5:54]. The possession of a Face, {And the Face of Your Lord, full of Majesty and Honor, will abide forever.} [55:27]. The possession of two Hands, {...to one whom I created with My two Hands.} [38:75] His Mounting upon His Throne, {The Merciful (Allaah) Istawa (arose) over the (Mighty) Throne.}.
This Istiwaa' is mentioned seven times in the Qur'aan, some of them are [20:5], [7:54] and [10:3]. His nightly Descent: As evidenced by the Hadith, "Our Lord descends every night to the lower heaven and heralds: 'Is there one who seeks forgiveness, so that I will forgive him. Is there one who asks, so that I will give him. Is there one who wants to repent, so that I will grant him a pardon.'" [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]. There are many other Attributes of Allaah, which we cannot restrict to twenty in number or more than twenty for that matter. Restriction the Attributes of Allaah to twenty is among the innovations of the Khalaf (later generations). Rather, it is incumbent to believe in all what has been mentioned in the Qur'aan and the authentic Sunnah concerning the Attributes of Allaah and His Names, affirming their literal meanings without likening Allaah with His creation and without negating their literal meanings from Allaah.The comprehensive statement concerning this subject is that: "We describe Allaah by what He has described Himself by or by what the Messenger has described Him by." We are not allowed to overstep the Qur'aan and the Prophetic narrations The belief of the Salaf (righteous ancestors) is the truth that lays between two falsehoods; the falsehood of likening Allaah with His creation and the falsehood of negating the literal meanings of His Attributes. Whoever resembles Allaah with His creation, worships, in reality, nothing other than an idol. Whoever denies the literal meanings of Allaah's Names and Attributes, worships, in reality, something nonexistent. On the other hand, the Muwah'id, who affirms the Names and Attributes of Allaah, without likening their meanings to the creation or denying their literal meanings, worships the Lord of the earth and the Heavens. This evidence by the verse, {There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-seer.} [42:11]. The initial part of this verse negates likening Allaah with His creation, and thereby therein lies a refutation against the anthropomorphists, and the last part of the verse, {and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer,} affirms for Allaah both Attributes of Hearing and Sight, and thereby therein lies a refutation against those who deny the Divine Attributes.
The righteous Salaf did not liken the Attributes of Allaah with those of His creation, as they did not liken His Essence with the essence of His creation. The discussion concerning the Attributes of Allaah is an extension of that concerning the Divine Essence. Therefore, just as His Holy Essence is not resemble by the essences of the created beings, His Attributes are not resemble by the attributes of the created beings too. When we say that Allaah possesses knowledge and that a created being possesses knowledge: As Allaah has spoken about Himself in His Glorious Book, {And He is the Knower of all things.} [6:101] and , {Should He not know what He created? And He is the Most Courteous (to His slaves), Well-Acquainted (with all things).} [67:14]. And He, likewise, has said concerning a created being, {And they gave him glad tidings of a son endowed with knowledge.} [12:55]. There is no doubt that the Knowledge of Allaah is not like the knowledge of Yousef or Ibrahim Likewise, Allaah has described Himself with possessing Pity and Mercy, saying about Himself, {Certainly He is unto them Full of Pity, Most Merciful.} [9:117] and, {And He is Most Merciful to the believers. [33:43]. And He has said concerning Prophet Muhammed, (pbuh), {verily there has come unto you a Messenger (Muhammed) from among yourselves, it grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He is anxious over you (to be rightly guided), for the believers (he is ) full of pity, kind and merciful.} [9:127]. The Mercy of Allaah is not like the mercy of a created being and the Pity of Allaah is not like the pity of a created being. Allaah has also described Himself in possession of Hearing and Sight in more than one passage in the Qur'aan, such as, {Verily Allaah is All-Hearer, All-Seer.} [31:28] and {There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.} [26:11]. And Allaah has said concerning a created being, {Verily We created man from a drop of mixed semen in order to try him, so We made him hearer, seer.} [76:2]. There is no doubt that what is in the Qur'aan is the Truth. Belonging to Allaah is actually Hearing and Sight befitting His Majesty and Perfection. The created being also possesses hearing and sight befitting his state of his poverty in essence and his cessation of being. The difference between the Hearing and Sight of the Creator and the hearing and sight of a created being is like the difference between the Essence of the Creator and a essence of the created being. Allaah has similarly described Himself with Life, {Allaah, there is none who has right to be worshipped but He, the Ever-Living, the one Who sustains and protects all that exists.} [3:2] and , {Allaah, He has said: 'He is the Ever-Living, none has the right to be worshipped but He."} [40:65]. And He has similarly described some of His created beings with life, {And We made from water every living thing.} [21:30] and, {And peace on him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day that he will be raised up to life (again)!} [19:5]. The Life of the Creator is not like the life of a created being And Allaah has said, {The Merciful (Allaah) Istawa (arose) over the Throne.} [20:5] and He has said concerning a created object, {And it Istawat (rested) on Mount Judi...} [11:44]. His Istiwaa' upon His Throne is not like the Istiwaa' of the ark of Noah on Mount Judi.
In summary, we neither
transcend the Qur'aan and the Prophetic narrations, nor do we falsely interpret
the Attributes of Allaah mentioned in the Two inspirations, the Qur'aan
and the authentic Sunnah, by false interpretations employed by the Jahmiyah
and the Mu'tazilah, who claim that : The Hand of Allaah is figurative and
means His Blessings, His Arising above His Throne means His Conquering
of it, the Face of Allaah refers to the Divine Essence, the Mercy of Allaah
means His favor, His Nightly Descent means the descending of His Command,
or His Mercy, or His Angels, etc.
These false interpretations
lead an individual to Kufr and reduce the Shari'ah to a toy in the hands
of the misguided and those bent on destroying Islaam. Upon the belief of
describing Allaah by what He has described Himself or what His Messenger,
Muhammed, described Him by without resembling, modification, alteration
or negation; passed the age of the Messenger, the Companions, the Successors
and their successors among the reputable leaders of the Islaamic religion
of the likes of Abu Hanifa, As-Shafi'i, Malik, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Bukhari,
Muslim, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasaii, Abu Dawood, Ath-Thawri, Ibn 'Uyaynah, and
others among the scholars of Hadith and Fiqh, the true Sufis who did not
fall into misguidance, like Al-Junayd, Al-Jilani, and Abu Na'im; and the
true linguists who stayed on the path, like Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, Tha'lab,
and others.
