The ruling on taʾwīl of the divine attributes

Answer

Taʾwīl of the attributes is reprehensible and impermissible. Rather, the attributes must be passed on as they have come, according to their apparent meaning in the way that befits Allah, Majestic and High, without taḥrīf [distortion], taʿṭīl [negation], takyīf [ascribing a ‘how’] or tamthīl [likening to creation]. Allah, Majestic is His majesty, has told us of His attributes and His names, and He said: ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ "There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" [al-Shūrā: 11]. We must therefore pass them on as they have come. This is what ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamāʿah [the people of the Sunnah and the united body of Muslims] said: “Pass them on as they have come, without how”; that is, pass them on as they have come, without taḥrīf, taʾwīl or takyīf. Rather, they are affirmed as they have come, according to their apparent meaning and in the manner that befits Allah, Majestic and High, without takyīf or tamthīl.

So of His saying, Exalted is He, ﴿الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى﴾ "The Most Merciful rose over the Throne" [Ṭā Hā: 5], and of similar āyāt, it is said: it is a rising over that befits the majesty and greatness of Allah, and it does not resemble the rising over of created beings. Its meaning, according to the people of truth, is being above and rising.

The same is said of the Eye, of hearing and sight, of the Hand and the Foot, and of the other attributes established for Allah, Majestic and High, and reported in the texts of the Sharīʿah. All of them are attributes that befit Allah, Glory be to Him, and creation does not resemble Him in them, Majestic and High. This is the way followed by the people of knowledge among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and by the imāms of the Sunnah after them, such as al-Awzāʿī, al-Thawrī, Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfah, Aḥmad, Isḥāq and other imāms of the Muslims, raḥimahum Allāh, all of them.

Among these is His saying, Exalted is He, in the story of Nūḥ: ﴿وَحَمَلْنَاهُ عَلَى ذَاتِ أَلْوَاحٍ وَدُسُرٍ تَجْرِي بِأَعْيُنِنَا﴾ "And We carried him on a vessel of planks and nails, sailing under Our Eyes" (the āyah) [al-Qamar: 13–14], and His saying, Glory be to Him, in the story of Mūsā: ﴿وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَى عَيْنِي﴾ "And that you might be reared under My Eye" [Ṭā Hā: 39]. The people of the Sunnah explained that what is meant by His saying, Glory be to Him, ﴿تَجْرِي بِأَعْيُنِنَا﴾ "sailing under Our Eyes" is that He, Glory be to Him, made it sail under His care, Majestic and High, until it came to rest on al-Jūdī.

So too His saying in the story of Mūsā, ﴿وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَى عَيْنِي﴾ "And that you might be reared under My Eye", means: under His care, Glory be to Him, and His granting success to those who undertook his upbringing, ʿalayhi al-ṣalātu wa-l-salām.

So too His saying, Glory be to Him, to the Prophet ﷺ: ﴿وَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا﴾ "So be patient with the decision of your Lord, for you are under Our Eyes" [al-Ṭūr: 48], meaning: you are under Our watch, Our care and Our protection. None of this is taʾwīl. It is, rather, tafsīr [explanation of meaning] of the kind well known in the language of the Arabs and its ways of expression. Among these, too, is the ḥadīth qudsī [a ḥadīth the Prophet relates from Allah], in which Allah, Glory be to Him, says: Whoever draws near to Me by a hand-span, I draw near to him by a cubit; whoever draws near to Me by a cubit, I draw near to him by an arm-span; and whoever comes to Me walking, I come to him hurrying. It is passed on as it has come from Allah, Glory be to Him and Exalted is He, without taḥrīf, takyīf or tamthīl, in the manner that Allah, Glory be to Him and Exalted is He, intended. The same holds for His descent, Glory be to Him, in the last part of the night.

The same holds for hearing and sight, anger and pleasure, laughter and joy, and the other established attributes: all of them are passed on as they have come, in the manner that befits Allah, without takyīf, taḥrīf, taʿṭīl or tamthīl, in keeping with His saying, Glory be to Him, ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ﴾ "There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" [al-Shūrā: 11], and with the āyāt of the same meaning.

As for taʾwīl of the attributes and diverting them from their apparent meaning, it is the doctrine of the people of bidʿah [innovation in the religion], the Jahmiyyah [the Jahmites, who denied the attributes], the Muʿtazilah [the Muʿtazilites, a rationalist sect] and those who follow in their train. It is a false doctrine. Ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamāʿah rejected it, disowned it and warned against its adherents. And Allah is the Guardian of success¹.