In Rebuttal of Tafwīdh/Tajhīl[1]
[01] — Majmūʿ-ul-Fatāwā of Shaikh-ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allāh have mercy on him) (5/34-35): [from Al-Fatwā Al-Hamāwiyyah Al-Kubrā]
“…(As for the third class[2] — and they are the people of ‘tajhīl’) — then they are many amongst those who attribute themselves to the Sunnah and to following the Salaf. They say: The Messenger (ﷺ) did not know the meanings of the ayāt concerning Allāh’s Attributes which Allāh sent down to him, nor did Jibrīl know the meanings of those ayāt, nor did the first and foremost Muslims know their meanings.
Likewise they say with regard to the ahādīth concerning the Attributes: Their meanings are known to none but Allāh, even though the Messenger said these sayings.
So upon their saying he spoke with words whose meaning was unknown to him.
These people think that they are following the Saying of Allāh (the Most High):
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ
[meaning:] “No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh. ” — Sūrah ʾĀli-ʿImrān (3): 7
And most of the Salaf made a pause after His Saying: “No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh”, and this is a correct pause. However, these people do not distinguish between the meaning of the speech and its explanation, and between the ‘explanation (taʾwīl)’ that Allāh alone has knowledge of.
They think that the ‘Taʾwīl’ that is mentioned in the Speech of Allāh (the Most High) is the ‘taʾwīl’ that is mentioned in the words of the later people, and they are mistaken in this.
So the word ‘At-Taʾwīl’ has three meanings:
[i] — The ‘taʾwīl’ in the terminology of many of the later folk is: diverting a wording from that which has more weight to that which has less weight due to an evidence which requires that.
So that meaning of a word that conforms with what is apparently shown by it is not ‘taʾwīl’ in the terminology of these people; and they think that this is what Allāh (the Most High) means by the word ‘taʾwīl’ here, and that the texts have a ‘taʾwīl’ contrary to what is apparent from them — and that this is not Known except to Allāh, and is not Known to the people of taʾwīl.
Then many of these people say: They are to be left upon what is apparent and what is apparent is what is meant. But this is along with their saying that there is a taʾwīl for them with this meaning that is known only to Allāh. So this is a contradiction which many of those people, who attribute themselves to the Sunnah, have
fallen into — from the followers of the four Imāms and others.
[ii] — (The second meaning): is that ‘taʾwīl’ is explanation of the speech — whether is conforms with what is apparent from it or not. This is the ‘taʾwīl’ used in the terminology of the majority of the mufassirs and others. This ‘taʾwīl’ is known by those well-versed in knowledge. This agrees with the pause of those from the Salaf who paused after His Saying:
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ ۗ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ
[meaning:] “No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh and those well-versed in knowledge” — Sūrah ʾĀli-ʿImrān (3): 7
This being reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Az-Zubayr, Muhammad ibn Is-hāq, Ibn Qutaybah and others. Both of these sayings[3] are right in one sense — as we have explained elsewhere. This is why both of them are reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, and both of them are right.
[iii] — (The third meaning): is that ‘taʾwīl’ is the reality which the speech is made clear in accordance with — even if that is in conformance with what is apparent from it. So the ‘taʾwīl’ (explanation) of what Allāh has informed of in Paradise — eating, drinking, clothing, intercourse, and the Final Hour and so on — is the actual realities that are in existence — and not the meanings that are imagined in the minds and expressed upon the tongues. So this is the ‘taʾwīl’ in the language of the Qurʾān, just as He (the Most High) says concerning Yūsuf (peace be upon him) — that he said:
يَا أَبَتِ هَٰذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّي حَقًّا
[meaning:] “O my father, this is the meaning of my dream from before — my Lord has caused it to come true” — Sūrah Yūsuf (12): 100
And He (the Most High) says:
هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا تَأْوِيلَهُ ۚ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي تَأْوِيلُهُ يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ نَسُوهُ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ
[meaning:] “Do they just wait for the final outcome? On the Day when the affair is fulfilled those who neglected it before will say: ‘Indeed the Messengers of our Lord came with the truth’.” — Sūrah Al-Aʿrāf (7): 53
And He (the Most High) says:
فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا
[meaning:] “And if you disagree in any of the affairs of your Religion, then refer it back to the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of His Messenger — if you truly believe in Allāh and the Last Day. That is better for you in this world and the Hereafter, and better in its final consequences.” — Sūrah An-Nisāʾ (4): 59
So this is the ‘taʾwīl’[4] that is known only to Allāh.
And the ‘taʾwīl’ of the attributes — which is the reality that Allāh (the Most High) alone knows, and it is the ‘how’; this is known (to us), and concerning it the Salaf — such as Mālik and others — said: “‘Al-Istāwāʾ’ (Ascension) is known, it ‘how’ is unknown.”
So the Ascension is known; its meaning is known and explained and can be translated into another language.
So this it from the ‘taʾwīl’ (i.e., explanation of the meaning) that is known to those well-versed in knowledge.
But as for the how it is, then that is the ‘taʾwīl’ that is known to Allāh (the Most High) alone.
Then it is related from Ibn ʿAbbās — mentioned by ʿAbdur-Razzāq and others in their tafsīr that he said: “Tafsīr of the Qurʾān is of four kinds:
[i] — The Tafsīr that is known to the ʿArabs from their language;
[ii] — The Tafsīr that no one has any excuse to be ignorant of;
[iii] — The Tafsīr that is known by the scholars; and
[iv] — The Tafsīr that is known only by Allāh (the Mighty and Majestic) so whoever claims knowledge of that is lying.”
This is as Allāh (the Most High) says:
[meaning:] “So no soul knows what delights of the eye Allāh has kept hidden for them as reward for what they used to do.” — Sūrah As-Sajdah (32): 17
And the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Allāh (the Most High) says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants what which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never been imagined by any human heart’.”[5]
Likewise knowledge of the time of the Hour and so on.
This is from the ‘taʾwīl’ that is known only to Allāh (the Most High).
Even though we do understand the meanings of what we have been addressed with, and we understand from the Speech what it is desired that we understand — as Allāh (the Most High) says:
[meaning:] “Will they not carefully ponder over the Qurʾān, or are their hearts locked up?” — Sūrah Muhammad (47): 24
And He said:
أَفَلَمْ يَدَّبَّرُوا الْقَوْلَ
[meaning:] “Have they not pondered over the Word of Allāh?” — Sūrah Al-Muʾminūn (23): 68
So He commanded that all of the Qurʾān should be pondered over, and not just a part of it.
And Abū ʿAbdur-Rahmān As-Sulamī said: Those who used to teach us the recitation of the Qurʾān: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd and others narrated to us that when they had learned ten Āyahs from the Prophet (ﷺ) they would not go beyond them until they had learned whatever knowledge and actions was contained in them. They said: “So we learned the Qurʾān, and knowledge and action together.”
And Mujāhid said: “I read the mus-haf in front of Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allāh be pleased with them) from its beginning to its end and I stopped at every Āyah and asked him about it.”
And Ash-Shaʿbī said: “No one introduced any innovation except that its clarification occurs in the Book of Allāh.”
And Masrūq said: “The Companions of Muhammad were never asked about anything except that there is knowledge of it in the Qurʾān; except our knowledge falls short of it.”
This is a very extensive matter which we have dealt with in its place.
So what is intended here is to bring attention to the sources of that futile sayings — which have necessitated misguidance in the matters of knowledge and Īmān in what the Messenger (ﷺ) came with; and that anyone who implies that the Messenger (ﷺ) did not know the meanings of the [Āyahs of] the Qurʾān that was sent down to him, nor Jibrīl (peace be upon him), then they have implied that he did not understand the Revelation, and they have not declared the Qurʾān to be guidance or a clarification for the people.
Then these people deny matters affirmed by correct intellect in these affairs altogether. So they will not affirm for the Messenger and his Ummah — with regard to the affair of Knowledge of Allāh (the Mighty and Majestic) — either knowledge derived from intellect or knowledge derived from text.
So in this matter they have conformed with the apostates from many angles; and they are in error with regard to what they attribute to the Messenger (ﷺ), and to the Salaf — with regard to ignorance. Just as the people of ‘tahrīf’ and futile misinterpretations and the rest of the types of apostates have erred.
So we shall mention the words of the Salaf themselves and the words of those who quoted their position and the matters which can be quoted here such that their position may be understood.
Abū Bakr Al-Bayhaqīd reports in ‘Al-Asmāʾ was-Sifāt’ — with ‘sahīh’ chain of narration from Al-Awzāʿī that he said: “We used to — whilst the Tābiʿūn were many — say that Allāh (the Most High) is above His Throne, and we believe in His Attributes reported in the Sunnah.”
So Al-Awzāʿī — and he was one of the ‘four Imāms’ in the time of the Tābiʿut-Tābiʿīn, who were: Mālik, who was the Imām of the people of Shām; Al-Layth, who was the Imām of the people of Egypt; and Ath-Thawrī, the Imām of the people of ʿIrāq, — he reported that this saying was well-known in the time of the Tābiʿīn; that of belief that Allāh (the Most High) is above the Throne, and belief in His Attributes as reported in text.
Then Al-Awzāʿī said after this after the appearance of the madhhab of Jahm who denied that Allāh is above His Throne, and who denied the Attributes — so he said it in order to make the people aware that the madhhab of the Salaf was contrary to that.
Also Abū Bakr Al-Khallāl reports in his ‘Kitāb-us-Sunnah’ from Al-Awzāʿī that he said: “Mak-hūl and Az-Zuhrī were asked about the explanation of the ahādīth, so they said: ‘Leave them just as they are reported’.”
He also reports from Al-Walīd ibn Muslim that he said: I asked Mālik ibn Anas, Sufyān Ath-Thawrī, Al-Layth ibn Saʿd and Al-Awzāʿī about the narrations reported about the Attributes, so they said: “Leave them just as they are reported.”, And in a narration: “So they said: ‘Leave them just as they are reported, without saying how’.”
So their (may Allāh be pleased with them) saying: “Leave them just as they are reported.”, is a rebuttal of the Muʿattilah [deniers of the Attributes], and their saying: “Without saying how.”, Is a rebuttal of the Mumaththilah [those who declare Allāh to be like the creation], and Az-Zuhrī and Mak-hūl were the most knowledgeable of the Tābiʿīn in their time, and the other four (mentioned) were the scholars of the world in the time of the Atbāʿut-Tābiʿīn; and from their level was Hammād ibn Zayd and Hammād ibn Salamah and their like.
Also Abul-Qāsim Al-Azjī reported with his chain of narration from Mutarrif ibn ʿAbdullāh that he said: “I heard Mālik ibn Anas — and those who repelled the ahādīth of the Attributes were mentioned to him — so he said: ‘ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdul-ʿAzīz said: Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) and those in charge after him laid down the (prescribed) Sunnahs — accepting that is affirmation of the Book of Allāh, and a perfection of obedience to Allāh, and strength upon the Deen of Allāh. It is not for anyone from the creation of Allāh (the Most High) to alter them; not to look to anything contrary to them. Whoever is guided by them is rightly guided, and whoever contradicts them and follows other than the way of the Believers — then Allāh will place him upon the path he has chosen and burn him in Hell, and what and evil destruction’.”
Also Al-Khallāl reports with a chain of narration — the narrators of which are all reliable Imāms — from Sufyān ibn ʿUyainah that he said: Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbdur-Rahmān was asked about His Saying: “The Most Beneficent (Allāh) Istawā (Ascended over) the (Mighty) Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty).”: How did He Ascend? So he replied: “Al-Istawā (Ascension) is not unknown, but the ‘how’ cannot be comprehended. Sending the Revelation is upon Allāh; upon the Messenger is to clearly transmit it; and upon us is to affirm.”
These words are also reported from Mālik ibn Anas — the Student of Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbdur-Rahmān — through various reports. From them: is what Abush-Shaikh Al-Asbahānī reported, and Abū Bakr Al-Bayhaqī: from Yahyā ibn Yahyā that he said: ‘We were with Mālik ibn Anas, and a man came and said: ‘O Abū ʿAbdullāh: “The Most Beneficent (Allāh) Istawā (Ascended over) the (Mighty) Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty).” — how did He Ascend?’ So Mālik lowered his head and sweat appeared upon his brow. Then he said: “The Ascension is not unknown, but the ‘how’ cannot be comprehended, and having Īmān in it is obligatory, and asking about that is an innovation; and I do not see except that you are an innovator.” Then he ordered that he should be removed.’
So the saying of Rabīʿah and Mālik: “The Ascension is not unknown, and the ‘how’ cannot be comprehended, and to have Īmān in it is obligatory.” — is in conformity with the saying of the others: “Leave them as they are reported, without saying ‘how’.” So what they denied is knowledge of how this is, but they did not deny the reality of the Attribute,
So if it were the case that they believed in the wording befitting Allāh — then they would not have said: “The Ascension is not unknown (Al-Istiwā ghairu majhūl), but the ‘how’ cannot be comprehended (wal-Kayfu ghair maʿqūl).”; nor would they have said: “Leave them as they are reported, without saying ‘how’ (Amirrūhā Kamā jāʾat bilā Kayf).” — since if that were the case, the ‘Istawā’ would not be something known but rather unknown, the same as the position of the letters of the alphabet.
Then also: Those who deny the Attributes proven by text alone — or all Attributes — do not need to say: “Without saying how”. So one who says that Allāh is not upon the Throne does not need to say: “Without saying how.” So if the way of the Salaf was in fact rebuttal of the Attributes, they would not have said “Without saying how”.
Also: their saying: “Leave them as they are reported” necessitates leaving them with the meanings they carry, since they are reported as wordings which carry meanings. So if the meanings they show were to be negated it would have been obligatory to say: “Leave their wordings as they are reported, whilst believing that what is understood from them is not what is meant.”, Or “Leave their wordings as they are reported whilst believing that Allāh is not in reality to be described with what they show.” But then in this case they would not have been left as they were reported, nor would it then be said: “Without saying how.” — Since denial of the ‘how’ about something that is not confirmed is futile speech… … …”
[02] — From ‘Ar-Risālah Al-Marrākishiyyah’ of Shaikh-ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allāh have mercy on him). [‘Majmūʿ-ul-Fatāwā: (5/155-159)]:
“…And as is known from the Deen of the Muslims — that it is safeguarded from anything of the Revelation being hidden, just as it is safeguarded from any falsehood therein; and that Ummah bore witness for the Messenger (ﷺ), that he conveyed the Revelation as he was commanded by Allāh, and he made clear that which was sent down to him by his Lord; and Allāh has informed that He completed and perfected the Deen — and it was perfected and completed with that which he conveyed, since the Deen cannot be known except by his conveying it. So it is known that he conveyed all of the Deen which Allāh prescribed for His servants, just as he (ﷺ) said: “I have left you upon clear guidance, its night like is like its day; no one strays from it after me except that he is destroyed.”
And he said: “I have not left anything that will bring you nearer to Paradise except that I have informed you about it; nor anything that will takke you away from the Fire except that I have informed you about it.”
And Abū Dharr said: “Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) passed away and there was no bird that spread its wings in the sky except that he mentioned some knowledg about it to us.”
So when this is clear — then it is obligatory upon every Muslim to believe and attest to the truth of whatever he (ﷺ) related to us from Allāh (the Most High) with regard to Allāh’s Names and Attributes: whatever occurs in the Qurʾān and the Sunnah that is established from him. Just as was the way of the first and foremost from the Muhājirūn and the Ansār, and those who followed them in good — those with whom Allāh was pleased and who were pleased with Him.
So they were the ones who learned from him the Qurʾān and the Sunah; and they would learn from him the knowledge and action contained in it — as Abū ʿAbdur-Rahmān As-Sulamī said: Those who used to teach the Qurʾān to us, such as ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbdullāh ibn Maʿsūd and others narrated to us that they used to learn ten Āyahs from the Prophet (ﷺ) and would not go beyond them until they had learned the knowledge and action contained in them. They said: “So we learned the Qurʾān and knowledge and action together.”
Also ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar — and he was a young Companion — spent eight years learning Sūrah Al-Baqarah and this was because of seeking its comprehension and understanding, and this is something known from a number of angles:
[firstly] — That the common nature which Allāh created the people upon will impel them to give attention to the Qurʾān that has been sent down to them — both its wordings and its meanings. Indeed it is even more certain that they would give attention to the meaning. So it is known that whoever reads a book about medicine or mathematics, or grammar or Fiqh, or other than this will certainly want to understand it and comprehend its meanings. So how about one who reads the Book of Allāh (the Most High) that was sent down to him — through which Allāh will guide them; and with which He made them aware of the truth and of falsehood, and good and evil, and guidance and misguidance, and what is correct from what is error?!
So as is known their desire to understand it and comprehend its meanings will be the greatest of desires. Indeed whenever a student hear a hadīth from a scholar he want to understand it. So how about those who hear the Speech of Allāh from the one who conveys it from Him. Indeed as is known that the desire of the Messenger (ﷺ), to teach them the meaning of the Qurʾān is greater than his desire to teach them its letters, since knowledge of the letters without the meaning will not achieve what is desired, since the meaning is desired from the words.
[secondly] — That Allāh (the One free of all imperfection and the Most High) encouraged them to ponder of it, and to seek to understand it and to follow it — in various places. As He (the Most High) says:
كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ
[meaning:] “This Qurʾān is the Book that We have sent down to you, O Muhammad (ﷺ), full of blessing (good and benefit) — so that they should ponder over its Āyahs.” — Sūrah Sād (38): 29
And He (the Most High) says:
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا
[meaning:] “Will they not carefully ponder over the Qurʾān or are their hearts locked up?” — Sūrah Muhammad (47): 24
And He (the Most High) says:
أَفَلَمْ يَدَّبَّرُوا الْقَوْلَ أَمْ جَاءَهُم مَّا لَمْ يَأْتِ آبَاءَهُمُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
[meaning:] “Have they not pondered over the Word of Allāh, or is it that something has come to which did not come to those who preceded them — so that they haughtily turned away from it?” — Sūrah Muʾminūn (23): 68
And He (the Most High) says:
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ ۚ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ غَيْرِ اللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا فِيهِ اخْتِلَافًا كَثِيرًا
[meaning:] “Do they not carefully consider the Qurʾān — for if it had come from other than Allāh they would have found that its rulings were contradictory, its meanings were discrepant, and parts of it would negate others.” — Sūrah An-Nisāʾ (4): 82
So if He has encouraged the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites[6] to ponder carefully over it, then it is known that it is possible for the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites to understand and comprehend its meanings. So if this is the case, then how can this be possible for the Believer. So this makes it clear that its meanings were known and clear to them.
[thirdly] — That He (the Most High) says:
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
[meaning:] “We have sent it down as an Arabic Qurʾān so that you may understand its meanings.” — Sūrah Az-Zukhruf (43): 3
And He (the Most High) says:
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
[meaning:] “We have sent it down as an Arabic Qurʾān so that you may understand its meanings.” — Sūrah Yūsuf (12): 2
So He makes clear that He sent it down in Arabic so that they should understand it, and there cannot be understanding except with comprehension of its meanings.
[fourthly] — He censured those who do not understand it, so He (the Most High) says:
وَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ جَعَلْنَا بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ حِجَابًا مَّسْتُورًاوَجَعَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ أَكِنَّةً أَن يَفْقَهُوهُ وَفِي آذَانِهِمْ وَقْرًا
[meaning:] “If you, O Muhammad (ﷺ), recite the Qurʾān to those Mushriks who do not believe in the Revelation — then We place between you and them and screen which blocks their hearts so that they do not understand what you recite to them and so benefit from it. And We place a veil over their hearts so that they should not understand it, and We place heaviness in their ears — preventing them from hearing and benefiting from it.” — Sūrah Al-Isrāʾ (17): 45-46
And He (the Most High) says:
فَمَالِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمِ لَا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا
meaning: “So what is wrong with those people that they are not able to understand what you inform them of?!” — Sūrah An-Nisāʾ (4): 78
So if the Believers were also unable to understand, then they would be sharers along with the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites in that which Allāh (the Most High) rebuked them for.
[fifthly] — He rebuked those who had no share from what they heard except merely hearing the sound, without understanding the meaning and following it.
So He (the Most High) says:
وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لَا يَسْمَعُ إِلَّا دُعَاءً وَنِدَاءً ۚ صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
[meaning:] “The example of those who disbelieve in their lack of understanding of what is recited to them of the Book of Allāh is like the example of the beast when it is called, it hears the sound but does not understand what is said. Deaf to the truth so that they do not hear it; dumb and unable to speak the truth; and blind to the guidance and the right way — so they do not understand.” — Sūrah Al-Baqarah (2): 171
And He (the Most High) says:
أَمْ تَحْسَبُ أَنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ أَوْ يَعْقِلُونَ ۚ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ ۖ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلًا
[meaning:] “O do you think, O Muhammad (ﷺ), that most of those Mushriks hear what is recited to them or understand? They are not except like cattle who do not understand what is said to them. Indeed they are more astray — since the cattle follow their shepherds and those in charge of them, whereas the Unbelievers do not obey their Lord and thank Him for the blessings He bestows upon them; rather they disbelieve in and disobey their Creator.” — Sūrah Al-Furqān (25): 44
And He (the Most High) says:
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَسْتَمِعُ إِلَيْكَ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا خَرَجُوا مِنْ عِندِكَ قَالُوا لِلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ مَاذَا قَالَ آنِفًا ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ
[meaning:] “From the Unbelievers there are some — i.e., the Hypocrites — who listen to you, O Muhammad (ﷺ), but they do not comprehend or understand what you recite to them — heedless and neglectful of what you recite, say and call them to. So when they go out they say to those who were present and have knowledge of the Book of Allāh: ‘What has Muhammad said just now?’ They are the ones whose hearts Allāh has sealed, and who reject Allāh’s command and instead follow their desires.” — Sūrah Muhammad (47): 16
And similar Āyahs.
So these Hypocrites heard the voice of Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ), but they did not understand, and they said: ‘What has he said just now?’ So these are the words of those who have not understood his words. So Allāh (the Most High) says:
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ
meaning: “They are the ones whose hearts Allāh has sealed, and who reject Allāh’s command and instead follow their desires.” — Sūrah Muhammad (47): 16
So whoever holds the first and foremost Believers — the Muhājirūn and the Ansār, and those who followed them upon good — to be people who did not know the meaning of the [Āyahs of] the Qurʾān — then he has placed them in the same position as the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites in that which Allāh (the Most High) rebuked them for.
[sixthly] — That the Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) explained the Qurʾān to the Tābiʿīn — just as Mujāhid said: “I read the Mus-haf to Ibn ʿAbbās from its start to its finish, stopping at every Āyah and asking him about it.”
Therefore Sufyān Ath-Thawrī said: “If tafsīr from Mujāhid reaches you then that is sufficient for you.”
And Ibn Ibn Masʿūd used to say: “If I knew that anyone had more knowledge of the Book of Allāh than me, and he could be reached by camels — then I would come to him.”
And each of the students of Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās reported such a large amount of tafsīr from them that it can only be enumerated by Allāh. Then the reports of that from the Companions and the Tābiʿūn are confirmed and well-known to the people of knowledge of that…”
[03] — From ‘Ar-Risālah Al-Madaniyyah fil-haqīqah wal-Majāz fis-Sifāt’ of Shaikh-ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allāh have mercy on him). [‘Majmūʿ-ul-Fatāwā: (6/358-360)]:
“…Then the nearest of those Jahmiyyahs are the Ashʿarīs, those who say that He has seven Attributes: Life (Al-Hayāt), Knowledge (Al-ʿIlm), Power (Al-Qudrah), Will (Al-Irādah), Speech (Al-Kalām), Hearing (As-Samʿ) and Seeing (Al-Basar). Then they did the rest. There are some of them, however, who add to that the Hand (Al-Yadd) only. Others from them abstain from denial of the rest, and the most extreme amongst them clearly state that the rest are to be denied.
…As for the Muʿtazilah, then they deny the Attributes without restriction… and they are the nearest of the people to the philosophic Sābiʾīs of Rome, and those who followed their way from the Arabs and the Persions…
So whoever is provided by Allāh with knowledge of what the Messengers came with and insight, and knows the source of those people [i.e., the Muʿtazilah] — will know for certain that they apostasize with regard to His Names and His Signs, and that they are denying the Messengers and the Books, and what the Messengers of Allāhs were sent with.
Therefore it used to be said that innovations are derived from Kufr and can be traced back to it, and they used to say: The Muʿtazilah are the effeminate ones of the Philosophers, and the Ashʿarīs are the effeminate ones of the Muʿtazilah.
Also Yahyā ibn ʿAmmār used to say: the Muʿtazilah are the male Jahmīs and the Ashʿarīs are the female Jahmīs.
What they were referring to was the Ashʿarīs who rebut the Attributes reported in the text. But as for those of them who support the book ‘Al-Ibānah’ which Al-Ashʿarī wrote at the end of his life, and who do not manifest any saying that goes against that — then he is to be counted amongst the Ahlus-Sunnah, however merely attributing oneself to Al-Ashʿarī is an innovation itself — particularly since by doing so he will give the false impression that all who use that ascription are upon good, and he will therefore open the door to evil…”
[04] — ‘Majmūʿ-ul-Fatāwā’ of Shaikh-ul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (4/67-70):
“…As for the third class of people: those who say that they are followers of the Salaf, and they say that the Messenger has not used the know the meaning of these Āyahs that were sent down to him [i.e., concerning Allāh’s Attributes], nor had his Companions used to know their meanings. Indeed their saying necessitates that he (ﷺ) did not know the meaning of his own words when he spoke with the ahādīth about the Attributes. Rather that he spoke with words whose meaning he did not know. Then these folk who claim to be upon the way of the Salaf say that they [the Salaf] had not used to know the meanings of the text, indeed they say the same thing about the Messenger. So this saying is one of the most futile of all sayings.
From that which they seek to base this upon, is what they understand from the Saying of Allāh (the Most High): “No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh.” — and they think that the ‘taʾwīl’ mentioned here is that which they call taʾwīl — which is contrary to what is apparent.
Then some of these people may say: The texts are to be left upon their ‘zāhir’ (upon what is apparent) and their ‘taʾwīl’ is known only to Allāh. What they mean by ‘taʾwīl’ here is thar which is contrary to what is apparent. This is a contradiction from them.
Another group mean by ‘what is apparent’ the wordings of the text alone — and both groups are in error with regard to understanding of the Āyah.
This is because the wording ‘taʾwīl’ has come to be used — due to usage of differing terminologies — with three meanings:
[firstly] — That what is meant by ‘taʾwīl’ is the true reality of the speech — even if that conforms with what is apparent (zāhir). This is what is meant by the term ‘taʾwīl’ in the Book and the Sunnah — as occurs in the Saying of Him (the Most High):
هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا تَأْوِيلَهُ ۚ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي تَأْوِيلُهُ يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ نَسُوهُ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَاءَتْ رُسُلُ رَبِّنَا بِالْحَقِّ
meaning: “Await they just for the final fulfilment of the event? On the Day the event is finally fulfilled (i.e., the Day of Resurrection), those who neglected it before will say: ‘Verily, the Messengers of our Lord did come with the truth’.” — Sūrah Al-Aʿrāf (7): 53
And from that is the saying of ʿĀʾishah: “Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to say frequently in his Rukūʿ and his Sujūd:
سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا وَبِحَمْدِكَ، اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي
“Glorified is my Lord, free and far-removed from all imperfections, and all praise is for You, O Allāh! Forgive me.”[7]
Implementing the Qurʾān [yataʾwwalul-Qurʾān].
And [secondly] — The word ‘taʾwīl’ is used to mean explanation (tafsīr), and this terminology was used by many of the scholars of Tafsīr. Therefore Muhājid — the Imām of the people of Tafsīr said: “Those well-versed in knowledge know the ‘taʾwīl’ (explanation) of that which carries the possibility of more than one meaning is not clear.”
So what he meant was its explanation and clarification of its meaning — and this is known by those well-versed in knowledge.
And [thirdly] — That the term ‘taʾwīl’ is used to mean: diverting the wording away from its manifest meaning which is supported by what is apparent from it — due to an outside evidence which necessitates that, so this ‘taʾwīl’ can only be with something contrary to what the textual wording indicates and makes clear. So giving the name ‘taʾwīl’ to this was not from the practice of the Salaf. Rather this and this alone was called ‘taʾwīl’ by a group of the later people who delved into Fiqh and its Usūl and the theological rhetoric (Kalām). So they thought that the Saying of Allāh (the Most High): “No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh.”, carries this meaning. Then about this ‘taʾwīl’ they became two groups: a people who said that knowledge of it [i.e., this ‘taʾwīl’] is known to Allāh alone, and a people who said: Those well-versed in knowledge know it also; and both of these groups are wrong.
This is because this ‘taʾwīl’ in many — or most of them and usually — is a case of twisting the words (tahrīf) from their true and correct meanings. It is of the same type as the false taʾwīl of the Qarāmitah and the Bātiniyyah.
This is the ‘taʾwīl’ about which the Salaf of the Ummah and its Imāms were agreed that it is blameworthy. They spoke out against its people in all parts of the world, and flung blazing meteors at them.
And Imām Ahmad wrote a book in refutation of those people, and called it: ‘Ar-Radd ʿAlaz-Zanādiqah wal-Jahmiyyah fīmā Shakkat Fīhi min Mutashābihil-Qurʾān wa Taʾawwalathu ʿalā ghayri Tʾawīlihi’. So Ahmad rebuked them for explaining the Qurʾān with other than its true meaning, and neither Ahmad nor a single one of the Imāms said: that the Messenger did not know the meanings of the Āyahs and ahādīth about Allāh’s Attributes. Nor did they say: that the Companions and those who followed them upon good did not know the tafsīr of and meaning of the Qurʾān.
How can that be so when Allāh commanded that His Books be pondered over carefully. So He (the Most High) says:
كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ
meaning: “This Qurʾān is the Book that We have sent down to you, O Muhammad (ﷺ), full of blessing (good and benefit) — so that they should ponder over its Āyahs.” — Sūrah Sād (38): 29
And He did not say: ‘some of its Āyahs’, and He said:
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ
meaning: “Will they not carefully ponder over the Qurʾān?” — Sūrah Muhammad (47):24
And He said:
أَفَلَمْ يَدَّبَّرُوا الْقَوْلَنَ
meaning: “Have they not pondered over the Word of Allāh?” — Sūrah Muʾminūn (23): 68
And similar texts which makes clear that Allāh loves that all of the people should ponder carefully over all of the Qurʾān, and that He made all of it light and guidance for His servants — and it is impossible that it is something whose meaning cannot be understood.
Then Abū ʿAbdur-Rahmān As-Sulamī said: Those who used to teach the Qurʾān to us: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbdullāh ibn Maʿsūd narrated to us, saying: “When we learned ten Āyahs from the Prophet (ﷺ), we would not go beyond them until we had learned the knowledge and action contained in them.” They said: “So we learned the Qurʾān and knowledge and action together.” And these matters are laid out and explained in their due place.
So that is meant here is that one who speaks about the Messenger and his explanation to the people — with the saying of the apostates — then what will be the saying of such a person be about the Salaf — and how can he claim to be following them? …”
Translated by Abū Ṭalḥah Dāwud Burbank
[1] — The saying that the meaning of Allāh’s Attributes are unknown to us and were unknown to the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them).
[2] — I.e. The third class of those who deviated from the way of the Companions in regard to Allāh’s Attributes; the first two being:
- The people of philosophy and those who followed their way — who said that those things which the Prophet (ﷺ) told of concerning Īmān in Allāh and the Hereafter were actually imaginary descriptions and not the true reality,
- The people of taʾwīl.
[3] — I.e. Concerning where the pause is to be made.
[4] — I.e. The actual reality of the matter and how that is.
[5] — Refer to ‘Sahīh Al-Bukhārī’ (no. 7498).
[6] — Since there Āyāt here contained an address to them.
[7] — See ‘Sahīh Al-Bukhārī’ (no. 794).
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