Sharh as-Sunnah : Lesson 57: Point 100
Shaykh Fawzan | Dawud Burbank [Audio|English]
Imaam Barbahaaree rahimahullaah said:
And know that the ruin of the Jahmiyyah was that they pondered about the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic. They introduced ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’. They abandoned the narrations. And they applied analogy , they weighed the religion according to their opinion. So they came with disbelief openly .They disbelieved and declared the rest of the people to be disbelievers. And the affair led them necessarily to stating Ta’teel (outright negation).
Shaykh Fawzan’s Explanation:
His saying, “And know that the ruin of the Jahmiyyah came about because they pondered about the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic,” the reason which caused the Jahmiyyah to become misguided to this great extent of misguidance is that they entered into the affair of the Lord, they began searching into it. So it is not permissible for the Muslim to search into the matter of the Lord. Rather, what is upon him is to have eemaan in Him and His Names and in His Attributes and not to enter into the kayfiyyah (how). Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, no-one knows about His Self and about how His Names and Attributes are except for Him, He, the Perfect. He, the Most High said:
يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِهِ عِلْمًا
Allaah knows whatever is before them and whatever is behind them and they do not encompass Him with Knowledge. (Soorah-Taa Haa (20), aayah 110)
So, no-one can encompass Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic; He is the one who knows best about Himself and about other than Himself. So, therefore, we do not speak about the affair of Allaah except for that about which there is a proof from the Qur·aan and the Sunnah. And we withhold from whatever does not occur; whatever is not reported.
The Jahmiyyah denied the Qur·aan and the Sunnah and they entered with their intellects into the affair of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High to the extent that they said that: ‘He is not within the Universe nor is He outside the Universe, He is not above nor is He beneath, He is not to the right nor is He to the left.’ Therefore, He would not exist then – Highly Exalted is Allaah above what they say. They said: ‘He does not have hearing, He doesn’t hear and He doesn’t see and He doesn’t have knowledge and He doesn’t have will.’ Therefore, He would be inanimate; non-living thing because an inanimate object is that which is described with these characteristics. So He would in that case be like the idols – Highly Exalted is Allaah above that.
His saying, “They imagined and made analogies with regard to the religion based upon their own opinion,” They followed false analogy, they drew analogy between Allaah and His creation and therefore they denied His Names and His Attributes because in their view they necessitated resemblance. And they did not know that the Names of Allaah and His Attributes are particular to Him, He the Perfect and that the names of the created being and the attributes of the created being are specific to them and there is no resemblance between this and that. So, just as Allaah has a self, which does not resemble the selves of creation then likewise He has Names and Attributes, which do not resemble the names and attributes with the created being. Whoever takes hold of this will be at ease and proceed upon the correct way.
His saying, “So they came with disbelief openly, it was not hidden.” They disbelieved in Allaah on account of these ugly sayings concerning Allaah, the Majestic and Most High.
His saying, “So they disbelieved and they declared the rest of the creation to be disbelievers.” They declared as disbelievers those people who describe Allaah with His Names and His Attributes because they say they are mushabbihah (they are ones who claim that Allaah resembles His creation) and tashbeeh (declaring the creator resembles the creation) is disbelief; kufr. So we say no, this is not tashbeeh (resemblance). Allaah the Majestic and Most High, He, the Perfect has said:
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
There is nothing like Allaah and He is the All Hearing, the All Seeing. (Sooratus-Shooraa (42), aayah 11)
So, He negated from Himself tashbeeh (resemblance) and yet He affirmed for Himself Hearing and Seeing even though hearing and seeing are present amongst the created beings. So this shows that this does not resemble that.
His saying, “And the affair unnecessarily led them to stating total negation.” At-Ta`teel is to deny the Creator, the Perfect and Most High. Because this leads to negation because one who does not hear and he does not see and he does not speak and has no will and has no wish and also is not inside the Universe nor is he outside the Universe and is not above and is not below. Therefore, there was no God who is worshipped in existence at all. So the affair ended up for them with apostasy and total negation.[1]
Footnotes:
[1] Translator’s side-point: If you read the story of Jahm ibn Safwaan exactly what happened to him. They say he debated with some people who doubted his Lord and he ended up doubting that they had a Lord so he even abandoned the prayer for a period of 40 days or something. They confused him so much with regard to his Creator, who are you going to pray to then? So the Shaykh said they refer the affair of Jahm and the Jahmiyyah, that’s what it lead to, it leads to this; Ta`teel (negation of the Creator) altogether; denial of the Creator.
—
Ithaaful-Qaaree bit-Ta`leeqaat `alaa Sharhis-Sunnah
(A Gift To The Reader In Annotation Of Sharh As-Sunnah)
by Shaykh Saalih ibn Fowzaan al-Fowzaan hafizahullaah
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
Posted with kind permission from Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah
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