Allaah (God) is Not on the Throne - Proofs from the Nations Top Scholars (Salaf & Khalaf)

8/6/2019 Allaah (God) is Not on the Throne - Proofs from the Nations Top Scholars (Salaf & Khalaf)

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BELIEVING ALLH IS IN A PLACE IS KUFR ANDAPOSTASY

By Abu Hudhayfah

'In sh'a-llh you will find in this document evidence from most reliable scholarsshowing that believing Allh is in a place, such as sitting on the Throne, is kufr,

disbelief.

In the second part we put the texts which will leave you without a doubt that whenscholars called such an abhorrent belief kufr, they did mean apostasy (riddah), whichis to stop being a Muslim and going to hell for ever if one does not repent.

In the third part we shall show what is the origin of the belief that God sits on theThrone.

Click on these headings underneath to go straight to the chapters.

1 BELIEVING ALLH IS IN A PLACE IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH ISLAM

2 BELIEVING ALLH IS IN A PLACE IT NULLIFIES 'MN

3 WHERE DOES THE BELIEF GOD SITS ON THE THRONE COME FROM?

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BELIEVING ALLH IS IN A PLACEIS INCOMPATIBLE WITH ISLAM

Imam ^Aliyy (radiya-llhu ^anhu) said:

Allh created the Throne to show His power, He did not take it as a place forhimself (alFarqu bayna lFiraq of 'Ab Mansr alBaghddiyy)

Allh does notsit on the Throne

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Âliyy said: Allh was when there was no space and He is now as He was (reportedin AlFarq bayna lFiraq of 'Ab Mansr alBaghddiyy)

Imam 'Ab Hanfah (radiya-llhu ânhu) said in alWasiyyah: If He needed to sit orestablish Himself, where would He be then before the creation of creation. Allh ismuch too great to have anything to do with this.

Imam 'Ahmad arRifîyy alKabr (radiya-llhu ânhu), who lived around the year 600after Hijrah, said:

which means: "The ultimate knowledge about Allh is to be certain that Allh existswithout a how or a place


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In alFiqh al'Absat, Imam 'Ab Hanfah (radiya-llhu ânhu) excommunicated (kaffara)whomever claimed that Allh is in a place. In this book he wrote: Whoever says, Ido not know whether my Lord is in heaven or on earth has committed kufr. The sameapplies to the one who says, He is on the Throne and I do not know whether theThrone is in Heaven or on earth.

(From alFiqh al'Absat, within a collection of Imam 'Ab Hanfahs epistles checkedby alKawthariyy)

It is reported that the Imam and mujtahid 'Ab Hanfah anNu^mn ibn Thbit: Whatdo say if you are told Where is Allh?. He answered: We say (to this person):Allh ta^l was when there was not space, before creating creation. Allh ta^l waswhen there was no where, no creation, nothing and He is the Creator of everything(Extract from alFiqh al'Absat among a collection of epistles of 'Ab Hanfah, checked

by alKawthariyy).

alÎzz ibn ÂbdisSalm (d. 660 H.) agreed with the Imam when he said in HallurRumz: Because this statement allows imagining that the Truth is in a place.Whoever deludes himself into believing that the Truth is in a place is a mushabbih. Amushabbih is a person who compares Allh with His creatures, this type of kufr iscalled tashbh (comparison).

Mulla Âliyy alQr, the famous Hanafi scholar, agreed with that, for he wrote: andthere is no doubt that alÎzz ibn ÂbdisSalm is one of the most august scholars andone of the most reliable, so it is a duty to rely on what he reported.


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The Hanafi Imam, Hfiz1 and faqh2 'Ab Ja^far atTahwiyy (d. 321) wrote in his

Âqdah: And whoever describes Allh with words whose meaning refer tocreatures, this person commits kufr.

Shaykh Shihbuddn 'Ahmad ibn Muhammad alMisriyy, who was a Shfiî and'Ashâri scholar known as Ibn Hajar alHaytamiyy (d. 974 H.), wrote: Know thatalQarfiyy and others reported from ashShfiîyy, Mlik, 'Ahmad and 'Ab Hanfah(radiya-llhu ânhu) that people who say that God is in a direction or has a body commitkufr, and they competent to declare that.

Mulla Âliyy alQr (d. 1014 H.) said: Who is more unjust than the person who liesabout Allh, who makes a specific and comprehensive statement declaring that He isin a place, that He has an appearance/shape, is in a direction such as opposite,

declaring that He is affected by distances and similar things. Such a personnecessarily becomes a disbeliever

1 Hfiz is an abbreviation for Hfiz alHadth, i.e. a scholar of Hadth who has reached the top level

of Hadth science through talaqq (learning from an authorised person) and memorising. At that levelonly such a scholar may give opinion on the reliability of Hfiz Hadths.2 A faqh (jurist) is an expert in fiqh, Islamic laws, rules, rituals and rites.


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The august scholar, muhaddith3 and faqh 'Abu lMahsin Muhammad alQwqajiyy, ofthe Hanafi school, from Tripoli in Lebanon (d.1305 H.) wrote in al'I^timd

bil'I^tiqd: Whoever says I do not know I do not know whether Allh is in heavenor on earth, commits kufr, because he has stated that one of them is a place for Him.

In alFatwa lHindiyyah, a book written by a group of Indian scholars, it is written : (aperson) commits kufr by testifying that Allh ta^l is in a place. If he says: Allh isin heaven (in Arabic) , if he just means to convey what is apparent in the hadths, he

does not commit kufr, but if he means in a place, he has committed kufr(alFatwa lHindiyyah is also known as alFatwa l^lamgriyyah).

Imam 'Abu lHasan al'Ashâriyy (radiya-llhu ânhu) said in Kitbu nNawdir:Whoever believes that Allh is a body does not know his Lord and disbelieves (is akfir) in Him. To say that Allh sits on the Throne is stating that He has a body Hesits with.

The Mliki scholar, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad Ûllaysh (d. 1299 H.), when hementioned what makes a person fall into kufr (may Allh protect us from it) wrote:such as believing that Allh has a body and is confined in a space, for this entails that

3 Expert in Hadth science through talaqq (learning from an authorised person) and memorising. Notevery muhaddith reaches the level of Hfiz alHadth.


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He is a creation and that He needs a creator (from Manhu lJall, Sharhu MukhtasariKhall).

BELIEVING ALLH IS IN A PLACENULLIFIES 'MN

The next quotes show that the kufr of those who believe Allh to sit on the Throne isindeed apostasy.

This quote of Imam asSubkiyy describes the legal consequences of believing Allh tobe in a place, these measures are part of the usual judgement for apostasy (riddah)


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Shaykh Mahmd ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ahmad Khattb asSubkiyy alMisriyy (d. 1362H.) said : Some people asked me, who sought to know religion and the position ofthe scholars of the first centuries (salaf) of afterwards (khalaf) on the issue of non-explicit (mutashbih) verses and hadths. They said: What do the scholarly masterssay (may Allh ta^l protect them) about a person who believes that Allh ^azza

wajall is in a direction, that He sits on the Throne in a particular place and says thatthis is the belief of the salaf and encourages people to adopt this belief and says to


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them, Whoever does not believe that is a disbeliever (kfir), as God said: TheMerciful One did 'istiw' on the Throne and Do you feel safe from the one who isin heaven (in sura alMulk)? Is this belief correct or wrong? If it is wrong, does theone who professes the aforementioned belief commit kufr? Are all previous religiousdeeds such as prayer and fasting deprived of rewards and his marriage to his wife

invalidated? If he dies before repenting, is he to be washed and buried in Muslimsgraveyards? Are those who followed him in this belief disbelievers like him?With Allhs help I answered: In the name of Allh the Merciful God, praise Allh

who guides to what is correct, may Allh raise the rank of the one4 who was givenwisdom et eloquence and protect his community from what he fears for them, andmay He bless his family and Companions whom Allh guided, and in whom Hecreated the ability to obey and the correct religion. As for what you mentioned, theruling is that this belief is wrong and is the credo of a disbeliever, by unanimity('ijm^) of Muslims scholars who considered it. The rational proof for this is the factthat Allh has no beginning and is different from creatures. The revealed evidence iswhere Allh said (what means), Nothing is like unto Him and He is the One who

hears and sees. Anybody who believes that God is found in a place, some creationcame in contact with Him, such as the Throne, the Pedestal (alKursiyy), heaven, earthor anything else, any such person is undoubtedly a kfir. All his previous goodsdeeds, whether they are prayer, fasting, pilgrimage or anything else are deprived ofrewards and his marriage to his wife is invalidated. It is a duty for him to repentimmediately. If he dies with this belief, God forbid, he is not to be washed nor prayedfor and he is not to be buried in Muslims graveyards. The same applies to anyonewho adopted his belief, may Allh protect us from our own evil and our bad deeds. Asfor his encouraging people to take up the same blasphemous belief and the fact that hesays to them, Anybody who does not believe that is a disbeliever (kfir), this fromhis part is kufr and an enormous slander5 (excerpt fro Ithfu lKint).

Shaykh alKawthariyy, representative of Islamic scholars under the Ottomans (d. 1371

H.), said: Declaring that Allh ta^l is in a direction is considered to be kufr by thefour Imams who are the guides of this Community ('Ummah) as alÎrqiyy reported itfrom them about what is in Sharhu lMishkh of Âliyy alQr (From alMaqltof alKawthariyy)

4 I.e. Prophet Muhammad, âlayhi ssaltu wassalm.5 Against religion.


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Shaykh ^AbdulGhaniyy anNbulusiyy, the Hanafi scholar, said: He who believesthat Allh fills the heavens and earth or that He is a body sitting above the Throne(ceiling of Paradise; throne) is a kfir, even though he claims to be a Muslim

There is no margin for the interpretation of the kufr mentioned in these texts, they donot refer to a mere enormous sin, they, refer to a belief which actually takes out ofIslam, as the following texts make it abundantly clear:

'Abu lQsim alQushayriyy (d. 465 H.) said in his Rislah : I heard Imam 'Ab Bakribn Frak (may Allh ta^l have mercy on him) say, I heard 'Ab ^UthmnalMaghribiyy say, I used to believe something about God being in a direction. WhenI arrived in Baghdad, this disappeared from my heart so I wrote to our companions inMecca, I have now come back into Islam.

Imam Ja^far asSdiq said: He who claims that Allh is in something or on somethingor from something, commits shirk. Because if He was in something, He would be

contained, and if He was on something, He would be carried, and if He was fromsomething, He would be a creature.


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The spokesman of Mutakallims, 'Abu lMu^n Maymn ibn Muhammad anNasafiyy,of the Hanafi school (d. 508 H.) said: Allh ta^l rejected any likeness between Hisreality and everything else; so whoever testifies that He is in a place opposes theexplicit text (verse 11 of sura ashShr whose meaning is) nothing is like unto Him

which does not bear any other understanding than what is obviously said andwhoever rejects a revealed text is a kfir, may Allh protect us from this (fromTabsiratu l'Adillah).

Imam Zayn ad-Din Ibn Nujaym (d. 970 H.) said: He commits kufr by declaring thatAllh ta^l is in a place. If he says: Allh is in Heaven, meaning to convey themeaning the apparent meaning of the texts, he does not fall into disbelief but if hemeant a place, he has done kufr (extract from alBahru rRiq: chapter on rulingsconcerning apostates).


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The Hanafi scholar Mul Âliyy alQr (d. 1014 H.) said: Who is more unjust thanthe person who lies against Allh and makes a specific or inclusive statement

testifying Allh to be in a space, to have an appearance and a direction, that you couldmeet Him (in a place), declaring to him be within a distance a similar things, and thus

becomes undoubtedly a disbeliever (kfir) (from the explanation of alFiqh al'Akbar:after the end of the explanation of arRislah).The shaykh also said: Whoever believes that Allh does not know things before theyhappen is a kfir and indeed the one who says so is considered as an innovator (min'ahli lbidâh). The same applies to the person who says that He subhnahu is a bodyin a place subjected to time and other similar things, this is a disbeliever, for he hasnot actually reached the reality of faith ('mn) (same source as the previous quote)He also wrote: Actually, a group of them (from the Salaf) and from the khalaf (laterscholars) said, the one who believes God to be in a direction is a kfir, as declared by

alÎrqiyy, and he said, This is what 'Ab Hanfah, Mlik, ashShfiîyy, al'Ashâriyyand alBqillniyy said. (from Mirqtu lMafth).


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The text in bold are 'Ab Hanfahs own words, the rest is alBaydiyys commentary.

The august Hanafi scholar Kamluddn alBaydiyy (d. 1098 H.) said while explaining

Imam 'Ab Hanfahs sayings: He (I.e. 'Ab Hanfah) said: So whoever says: I donot know whether Allh is in heaven or on earth is a kfir because he said thatsomeone has somehow specified a direction for the Creator, an area and a cleardefect; when anything that is in a specific direction or area needs (someone to havespecified this for Him) and is necessarily created. These are words which explicitlyattribute Allh with defects. The same applies to a person who says, He is on theThrone and I do not know whether the Throne is in Heaven or on earth becausethis necessarily entails that he says God is in a direction, an area and that he has anclear defect, especially when he says that He is on earth and denies Godstranscendence6 (^uluww). Indeed this is denying the reality of God who is clear from

being confined in a space or similar to creations. This is what shows it:

6 Transcendence (^uluww) means that Allh has no limits, is not in space nothing is like Him.


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First: the one who claims God has a body and is in a direction denies the existence ofanything else which cannot be located by senses. Among the people who do this are

those who do not accept that God is beyond that. Such a person is necessarily andundoubtedly in kufr and he7 showed that when he ruled that the individual becomes adisbeliever.

Secondly: charging with infidelity the person who compares God with creatures orbelieves Him to be confined in a space. This is shown by the aforementioned rulingagainst the one who utters such words. This is what Imam al'Ash^ariyy chose whenhe said in anNawdir: Whoever believes that Allh is a body does not know hisLord because he (really) denies His existence, as it is mentioned by 'Abu lQsimal'Ansriyy (from 'Ishrtu lMarm)

Shaykh ^AbdulGhaniyy anNbulusiyy, the Hanafi master (d. 1143 H.) said: As forthe types of disbelief (kufr), there are three kinds of them from a religious point ofview and all kinds of kufr are included in them. These are tashbh (comparison), ta^tl(denying Allhs attributes) and takdhb (contradicting the revealed texts) as fortashbh, it is to believe that Allh is like anything in His creation such as those who

believe Allh ta^l to be a body above the Throne, or they believe Him to have twohands in the meaning of limbs, or they believe Him to be in somebodys image orsomebodys condition (kayfiyyah), to imagine Allh to be a light reason can picture,or that He is in Heaven or one of the six directions, in some place or in all places, thatHe fills the Heavens and the earth, that He is incarnated 8in something or in all things,

7 Imam 'Ab Hanfah.8 Incarnation (hull) means to be inside something.


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that He is united with something or with all things, that things or somethingemanated from Him9. All of these are explicit cases of kufr and we seek protectionfrom Allh ta^l. The cause of it is that the person is ignorant of what he follows andgoes into extremes. (From alFathu rRabbniyy walFaydu rRahmniyy)

The muhaddith10 and faqh11 Âbdullh alHarariyy said in asSirtu lMustaqm : It isalso kufr for a person to believe that Allh ta^l is confined in space, that Allh issomething like air or a light filling a space, a room or a mosque. We do not callmosques houses of Allh because Allh inhabits them but because they are placeswhere Allh is worshipped. It is also kufr to say, Allh lives in th heart of His saints

if the person believes that He actually is inside (hull12). The meaning of alMi^rj (theAscension) is not that the Prophet arrived to a place where the limit of Allh ta^lsexistence was13 anyone who believes that commits kufr , what is meant by theMi^rj is (that the purpose of this journey is) to honour the Messenger (salla-llhuâlayhi wasallam) by giving him access to marvels in the superior world, to show thegreatness of his rank and to let him see the Divine Reality with his heart without thisReality being in space

WHERE DOES THE BELIEF GOD SITS ON THE THRONECOME FROM?

In the Bible they wrote :Revelation 4:2-11(9) And when the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him Who sitson the throne, to Him Who lives forever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders will fall

9 Emanating means they believe something to have come out of Allh or for creation to be some kindof expansion of Allh.10 Actually the shaykh is Hfiz alHadth, i.e. a scholar of Hadth who has reached the top level ofHadth and is abilitated to give opinion on the reliability of Hfiz Hadths.11 Expert in fiqh, Islamic Law and rituals. He is also mufti in the four Sunni schools, qri in all the

readings of the Qurn, etc.12 Hull means incarnation.13 I.e. The Messenger (salla-llhu âlayhi wasallam) did not reach a place where God was.


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down before Him Who sits on the throne, and will worship Him Who lives foreverand ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, For Thou hastmaintained my just cause; Thou dost sit on the throne judging righteously.Psalms9:4.

They wrote:God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. Psalms 47:8...I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robefilling the temple. Isaiah 6:1

Isaiah Chapter 6, it is written :1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, highand lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

In the book called Revelation 19:1-10 they wrote:"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying,

Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, whichdid corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servantsat her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped Godthat sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

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The Vision of Rabbi IshmaelBabylonian Talmud Berakhot 7a:It was taught:Said Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha: Once I entered into the inner sanctum to offerincense.And I beheld Akatriel Yah LORD of Hosts sitting upon a throne, high and liftedup.

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The quotes from Islamic scholars from the first centuries (Salaf) and later generation(khalaf) in this document are only a few from a collection of at least 269 texts whichestablish beyond doubt the unanimity of the Muslim scholars all along Islamichistory, that attributing a place to Allh, such as claiming He sits on the Throne, isapostasy, leaving those who profess it outside the fold of Islam.


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Allaah (God) is Not on the Throne - Proofs from the Nations Top Scholars (Salaf & Khalaf)