Mukhtasar al-Uluww lil-Ali al-Azim - A-Dhahabi - (80)

Mukhtasar al-Uluww lil-Ali al-AzimA-Dhahabi

—in a day whose span is a thousand years as you count.

He also says: “To Him ascends good speech,” and He says: “I will take you and raise you up to Myself,” and: “They did not kill him for certain; rather, Allah raised him to Himself.” Concerning the angels He says: “They fear their Lord who is above them.”

He further says: “Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you up and then it quakes? Or do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven will not send against you a piercing wind?” And He says: “Lord of the ways of ascent— the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him.”

He says as well: “Pharaoh said, ‘Hāmān, build me a lofty tower so that I may reach the pathways, the pathways of the heavens, and look upon the God of Moses; yet I indeed think him a liar.’”

And so on, in numerous other passages of the majestic Quran—sublime is the One who sent it down, exalted is the One who spoke it.

So if you, O servant of Allah, wish to be fair, pause with the texts of the Quran and the sunnahs; then look 2 at what the Companions, the Followers, and the leading exegetes have said about these verses, and at what they have transmitted of the doctrines of the early generations. Either speak with knowledge or keep silent with forbearance. Leave quarrelling and dispute, for wrangling over the Quran is disbelief, as the sound hadith states.

You will see the words of the Imams on this matter, layer upon layer, after we first set out the prophetic hadiths. May Allah gather our hearts upon reverent obedience and keep us far from contention and caprice.

We stand upon a sound foundation and a strong covenant: that Allah—sanctified is His Name—has no equal; and that our belief in the attributes proven for Him is like our belief in His holy Essence. The attributes belong to the One described; thus we affirm the existence of the Creator and distinguish His sacred Essence from all likenesses without attempting to grasp His reality. The same applies to His attributes: we believe in them, acknowledge their reality, and know them in broad terms without probing their modality, likening, qualifying, or comparing them to the attributes of His creation. Exalted is Allah far above that. For istiwāʾ (rising over the Throne)—as Imam Mālik and others said—is known, while its ‘how’ is unknown.

Among the mass-transmitted 3 hadiths concerning divine exaltation are:

(1) Imam Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, the father of Imam al-Haramayn, writes in his treatise on al-istiwa (the Divine Rising), 1/177, Muniriyya ed.: “This shows that Musa informed him that his Lord, exalted be He, is above the heaven; hence he said, ‘I indeed think him a liar.’ Consult this treatise, for it is of importance.” (2) The manuscript reads wa-unzur (“and look/see”); this is likely the correct wording. (3) Mukhtasar Lawamiʿ al-Anwar, p. 142, quotes the author as saying al-mutawafira (“numerous”); this is probably the right reading.

فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ﴾ , وقال تعالى: ﴿إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ﴾ وقال تعالى: ﴿إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ﴾ وقال تعالى: ﴿وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا، بَلْ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ﴾ وقال تعالى في الملائكة ﴿يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ﴾ , وقال تعالى: ﴿أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَمُورُ، أَمْ أَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا﴾ , وقال تعالى: ﴿ذِي الْمَعَارِجِ، تَعْرُجُ الْمَلائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ﴾ وقال تعالى: ﴿وَقَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ يَا هَامَانُ ابْنِ لِي صَرْحًا لَعَلِّي أَبْلُغُ الْأَسْبَابَ، أَسْبَابَ السَّمَاوَاتِ فَأَطَّلِعَ إِلَى إِلَهِ مُوسَى وَإِنِّي لَأَظُنُّهُ كَاذِبًا﴾ إلى غير ذلك من نصوص القرآن العظيم جل منزله وتعالى قائله. فإن أحببت يا عبد الله الإنصاف, فقف مع نصوص القرآن والسنن, ثم انظر٢ ما قاله الصحابة والتابعون وأئمة التفسير في هذه الآيات, وما حكوه من مذاهب السلف, فإما أن تنطق بعلم, وإما أن تسكت بحلم, ودع المراء والجدال, فإن المراء في القرآن كفر, كما نطق بذلك الحديث الصحيح وسترى أقوال الأئمة في ذلك على طبقاتهم بعد سرد الأحاديث النبوية. جمع الله قلوبنا على التقوى" وجنبنا المراء والهوى", فإننا على أصل صحيح, وعقد متين, من أن الله تقدس اسمه لا مثل له, وأن إيماننا بما ثبت من نعوته كإيماننا بذاته المقدسة "أو الصفات تابعة للموصوف فنعقل وجود الباري ونميز ذاته المقدسة" عن الأشباه من غير أن نتعقل الماهية, فكذلك القول في صفاته, نؤمن بها, ونعقل وجودها, ونعلمها في الجملة من غير أن نتعقلها أو نشبهها أو نكيفها أو نمثلها, بصفات خلقه, تعالى الله عن ذلك علوا كبيرا, فالإستواء -كما قال الإمام مالك وجماعة- معلوم, والكيف مجهول. فمن الأحاديث المتواترة٣ الواردة في العلو:

١ قال الإمام أبو محمد الجويني والد إمام الحرمين في رسالته في "الاستواء" "١/ ١٧٧- منيرية": "وهذا يدل على أن موسى أخبره بأن ربه تعالى فوق السماء، ولهذا قال: "وإني لأظنه كاذاب". وراجع هذه الرسالة فإنها مهمة. ٢ في المخطوطة: "وانظر" لعله الصواب. ٣ في مختصر لوامع الأنوار "ص١٤٢" عن المؤلف: المتوافرة. ولعله الصواب.