The Standpoint Of The Four Renowned Imams

Where Is Allah



THE STANDPOINT OF THE FOUR RENOWNED IMAAMS

Imaam Abu Hanifah [43]

AbuMuti' Al-Balkhi reported:"I asked Imaam Abu Hanifah about a person whosays, 'I do not know whether my Rubb is, above the heavens or onearth?' Abu Hanifah, may Allaah grant him His mercy, said: 'A personwho makes such a statement becomes an apostate because Allaah, theExalted says, 'The Merciful has ascended above the 'Arsh, and the 'Arshof Allaah is above His heavens'. I further asked Abu Hanifah, 'What ifsuch a person admits, Allaah is above His 'Arsh, but exclaims, I do notknow whether His 'Arsh is above the heavens or on earth'. Abu Hanifahresponded: 'If he denies that the 'Arsh is above the heavens, he is anapostate." [44] If the person apostatizes by saying that he did notknow where is the 'Arsh of Allaah, then by right a person who deniesthe Loftiness of Allaah altogether is definitely worse than an apostate.


Imaam Maalik [45]

Abdullah bin Nafi' reported: Maalik bin Anas said:'Allaah is above the heavens, but His knowledge encompasses everything. Nothing escapes His knowledge.' [46]


Imaam Ash-Shafi'ee [47]

Imaam ash-Shafi'ee said:"The creed which I hold is the same creed the Muslims before me were holding, namely, the Testimony of Faith: "There is no god worthy of beingworshipped except Allaah, that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allaah, andthat Allaah is above His 'Arsh, above the heavens. He descends to thelowest heaven whenever He wishes." [48] Imaam ibn Khuzaimah, a Shafi'ite himself, said: "Whoever disacknowledges that Allaah is aboveHis 'Arsh, above His seven heavens, and that He is separated from His
creatures, is a Kafir, (unbeliever). Such person must be ordered torepent and disavow his belief, or else he must be beheaded and thrownon a garbage dump so that neither Ahlul-Qiblah [49] nor Ahludth-dthimmah [50] be annoyed by the foul odor of his carcass." [51]Abu Bakr Muhammad at-Tamimi, a Shafi'ite Imaam of Naisaboor, said:"I donot pray behind a person who denies the attributes of Allaah and doesnot recognize that Allaah is above His 'Arsh." [52]


Imaam Ahmad [53]

He was asked: "Is Allaah above His 'Arsh, above the seventh heaven,separate from His creatures, and is His knowledge and powerencompassing everything everywhere? He replied: 'Certainly, He is aboveHis 'Arsh and nothing escapes His knowledge." [54] All of the aboveshow that the entire Muslim ummah, in the past and present, is inunison regarding the belief in the Loftiness and Supremacy of Allaah,the Exalted.


DUBIOUS ARGUMENTS

Adherents of certain deviant sects promote a false belief that Allaahis omnipresent Who inheres in His creation. Rational arguments aredeadly available to refute the blasphemy of the Jahmites and those who try to revive their belief today. To prove that Allaah is above His'Arsh, and above the seventh heaven in a manner that suits His Majesty,the Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal, may Allaah be pleased withhim, refuted their belief more than one thousand years ago, when hewrote: "Where Allaah is and Where He is not - An exposition of thedenial of the Jahmites that Allaah is above the 'Arsh."


We asked them "Why do you deny that Allaah is above the 'Arsh when He has said: 'The Merciful has the 'Arsh? [55] And again,' 'Who in sixdays created the Heavens and the earth then the 'Arsh,' [56] Theyreplied: "He is under the seven earths as He is on the 'Arsh; He is inheaven, on earth and in every place; there is no place where He is not,nor is He is one place to the exclusion of any other." And they quotedthe verse: "And He is Ilaah in the heavens and He is Ilaah on theEarth!" If you wish to prove the falsehood of the Jahmites who claimthat Allaah exists everywhere, not in one particular place, ask them,'Is it not true that Allaah was existent when there was nothing inexistence?' The Jahmites' answer would be: "Certainly, there wasnothing before Allaah." Then ask them, "Did Allaah create the creationwithin Himself or outside of Himself?" The Jahmites would be compelledto choose on of the following three answers:

1. If the Jahmites assert that Allaah created the creation withinHimself, they would then become apostate instantly by claiming that theJinn, humans and Satans are all dwelling within Allaah.

2. If the Jahmites assert that Allaah created the creation outsideHimself but dwelled in them afterwards, they would also become apostateinstantly by claiming that Allaah dwells in His creatures.

3.But if the Jahmites say that Allaah created the creation outsideHimself and has never dwelled in them, they would by giving thisanswer, join the folds of Ahl-As Sunnah, for by giving this answer theydenounce their own deviant beliefs.

Allaah,the Exalted, described Himself in the Torah too that He is above Hiscreatures. Ka'bul-Ahbaar said: "Allaah, azza wajall, [57] said in theTorah, 'I, Allaah Am above My slaves, and My 'Arsh is above My
creatures, and I am upon My 'Arsh running the affairs of My slaves.Nothing is hidden from Me neither in heaven nor on the earth." [58]

Finally,it may be worthwhile to say that even the enemy of Allaah, Fir'awn(Pharoah), who flagrantly claimed to be a god of his people, knew whereAllaah is more than the followers of Jahm today. Allaah says: And
Fir'awn said, 'O, Haman, build for me a tower that I may reach theways; the ways to heavens so that I may have a look at the Ilaah ofMusa.' [59] Now consider the words of Fir'awn who
wanted Haman to build a tower for him that he might climb all the wayto the heavens to see the Rubb of Musa, for Musa already told him thatAllaah to Whom he is inviting him is above the heavens, and compare this with the groundless argument of the Jahmite off-shoots of today. AMuslim wonders how could those who believe that Allaah is Omnipresentrationalize such assertion knowing that Allaah, the Omnipotent, will
collect the earth in His hand and fold the heavens in His right hand,as evidenced by the following divine stern warning. And they have notvenerated Allaah with the veneration that is due Him, for on the Day ofResurrection, the earth will be collected in His hand and the heavenswill be folded up in His right hand. [60] Were the above verse to bethe only proof of Allaah's Loftiness, it would have been more thansufficient. It is certainly sufficient to those who fear Allaah andgive Him the true veneration that is due to Him.


CONCLUSION

The first three Muslim generations whose righteousness the Messenger ofAllaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam testified for, and whose meritssurpassed the merits of all succeeding generation. They are theCompanions of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam and the twogenerations that followed them. They all believed in the apparentmeaning of the Qur'aanic ayaat that deal with the divine attributeswithout giving them farfetched interpretations based on Greekphilosophies.

TheBeliever must believe that there is none like unto Allaah, the Exalted,in His essence, attributes, nor His actions. He must also believe thatAllaah stands in need of none of His creatures. Neither a thing nor aplace encompasses Him. He is above His 'Arsh, above the seventh heaven,and above all His creature essentially and realistically notallegorically.

Thereis none of His creatures that touches Him. Based on this it is notpermissible to say that Allaah is everywhere, or He inheres in any ofHis creatures, for Allaah was when there was nothing. He who assertsthat Allaah is not outside the universe, not only denies the existenceof Allaah, but he worships a non-existent god. We ask Allaah tokeep us on the straight path of His Messenger sallallaahu 'alayhi wasallam and his Companions and to make us join their company on the Daywhen neither wealth nor offspring would avail. Walhamdu lillahiRabbil-aalameen.



Thisdiscourse has been based mainly on two books: Ithbat Uluwil-Lah, byUsamah bin Yusuf al-Qassas, may Allaah grant him His mercy, andAr-Rahman alal Arsh Istawa, by Dr. Awad Mansoor