Siffat Controversy

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدى يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

It has become necessary for me to elucidate my position with regard to the controversy over divine attributes. Regrettably, this controversy has consumed the time and attention of the Muslims, especially the laity. I believe it is an unhealthy obsession of some that has resulted in far too much argumentation, division and even hatred within the ranks of the Sunni Muslims. The Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said

لاَ تَخْتَلِفُوا فَإِنَّ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمُ اخْتَلَفُوا فَهَلَكُوا

Do not differ, for indeed those who came before you differed and were destroyed (Sahih al-Bukhari)

اقْرَءُوا الْقُرْآنَ مَا ائْتَلَفَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ فَإِذَا اخْتَلَفْتُمْ فَقُومُوا عَنْهُ

Recite the Quran as long as your hearts are in agreement, but if you differ then stop (ibid)

When even the recitation of the Quran is ordered to be paused when it is resulting in disagreement among the Muslims, then how much more necessary is it to stop and prevent argumentation over theological hairsplitting? Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates:

خَرَجَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَنَحْنُ نَتَنَازَعُ فِي الْقَدَرِ فَغَضِبَ حَتَّى احْمَرَّ وَجْهُهُ حَتَّى كَأَنَّمَا فُقِئَ فِي وَجْنَتَيْهِ الرُّمَّانُ فَقَالَ ‏أَبِهَذَا أُمِرْتُمْ أَمْ بِهَذَا أُرْسِلْتُ إِلَيْكُمْ إِنَّمَا هَلَكَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ حِينَ تَنَازَعُوا فِي هَذَا الأَمْرِ عَزَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَلاَّ تَتَنَازَعُوا فِيهِ

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out to us while we were disputing about Qadr [predestination]. He became so angry that his face turned red as if pomegranates had been burst on his cheeks. He said, “Is this what you have been commanded to do, or is this what I have been sent to you to do? Those who came before you were destroyed when they disputed about this matter. I have made it my resolve that you not dispute about it” (Jami al-Tirmidhi, #2133)

The belief in Qadr is one of the Articles of Faith in Islam, yet the Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade the Believers from debating about it. The inevitable consequence about such theological disputation is destruction of the Community. When the Christians excessively disputed among each other and became deviated on Christology, Rome itself fell to the pagan Germanic barbarians in 476 CE. Witness the destruction this Ummah experienced at the hands of the Crusaders and then the Mongols when it had become mired in excessive disputation. Likewise, the condition of the Muslims today is not hidden from anyone. The internal fragmentation and culture of debating has surely contributed to it.

Disputation about the nature of God and His attributes is perhaps even worse than disputation over Qadr or how to recite the Quran—disputations which upset the Prophet, peace be upon him, and which he strictly forbade.

The teaching of Islam is that the creation can never truly comprehend the reality and nature of God’s Person. He is transcendent, beyond our limited understanding and faculties to fully comprehend. So the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, said

تَفَكَّرُوا ‌فِي ‌الْخَلْقِ ‌وَلَا ‌تَفَكَّرُوا ‌فِي ‌الْخَالِقِ فَإِنَّكُمْ لَا تَقْدُرُونَ قَدْرَهَ

Think about the creation but do not think about the Creator, for you cannot comprehend His magnitude (al-Azamah li-Abi il-Shaykh al-Isbahani, v.1, p.216)

It is reflecting on the wonder of creation that will aid a person in strengthening his or her faith in the existence of the Creator. But trying to imagine the Creator and how He is is a futile exercise that may lead to deviation and anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism and resembling God to His creation is the root of idolatry. For all the false gods of the polytheists and pagans are conceived as being that have limited forms, bodies which are humanoid or resembling animals. But the Creator is invisible, He is beyond having a limited form or body, as He says in the Holy Quran

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

There is nothing like unto Him

(Surah 42:11)

Forgetting these beautiful and straightforward principles of Islamic theology, some of the early Muslims, influenced by foreign philosophies and religions, began to deviate in this matter. Some, known as the Mushabbihah, believed God resembles His creation in some way, saying He has a body or anthropomorphic form. Others, following the heresiarch Jahm bin Safwan went to the other extreme, going overboard in the matter of Tanzih, that is negating any resemblance for God, such that they denied God had any attributes and negated the description of God that is established in Scripture and Revelation. Hence, the great Imam Abu Hanifah said,

أتانا من المشرق رأيان خبيثان جهم معطل ومقاتل مشبه

Two evil opinions have come to us from the East: Jahm the Muattal and Muqatil the Mushabbih

أفرط جهم في النفي حتى قال أنه ليس بشيء وأفرط مقاتل في الاثبات حتى جعل الله بالى مثل خلقه

Jahm went to the extreme in negation till he said that He [Allah] is nothing, and Muqatil went to the extreme in affirmation till He made Allah like His creation (Tahdhib ul-Tahdhib, v.10, p.281)

Hence, Sunni orthodoxy is a middle position between the two extremes of Tatil (nullifying the description and attributes of God) and Tashbih (resembling God to His creation), as explained by the great Imam Abu Hanifah.

While I affirm and believe everything that has been said in the divine revelation of the Quran and the Sunnah, including with respect to the description of Allah Most High, it is necessary to clarify that there are statements and descriptions in the Holy Quran that are from the Mutashabihat—Verses that are ambiguous, allegorical, or unclear whose true meaning only Allah knows:

هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُّحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ ۖ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ ۗ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ ۗ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ

He is the One Who sent down upon you [My beloved Prophet] the Scripture. From it are Verses that are Muhkam [established, decisive], these are the Mother of the Scripture, and others that are Mutashabih [ambiguous, allegorical]. So as for those in whose hearts is a deviation they follow the ambiguous of it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation. And none knows its interpretation except Allah. And those grounded in knowledge say, We believe in it. All of it is from our Lord. Yet none receive admonition except those of understanding

(Surah 3:7)

The Muhkam, or established foundation of the Kitab, the Scripture and Religion of Allah, is that the creation is unable to comprehend Him and that there is nothing like unto Him. At the same time, it is Muhkam or established and manifest that Allah is a real Person, He possesses life, will, power, knowledge, sight, hearing and speech. Then there are mention of some matters in the Revelation which are difficult to understand, which may be termed Mutashabih, ambiguous or allegorical statements such as references to the Hands of Allah and His establishment over the Throne. Are these literal descriptions or figurative? Disputation over these matters is what Allah has condemned and what the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, warned against. Rather, those grounded in knowledge merely say “we believe in it, all of it is from our Lord”. We consign the true meaning and interpretation of these matters to Allah. Instead, our theology and invitation to Allah should focus on the Muhkam matters—that Allah is One, indivisible, He does not change, the Living God, He is not limited or contained, He cannot be fully comprehended, He is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, He has power over everything, He knows, sees and hears everything, nothing is independent of Him. He is eternal, without beginning and without end, and there is nothing which resembles Him.

This consignment of the true meaning of those matters which are ambiguous—wrongly used by the anthropomorphists to justify their anthropomorphic theology—is termed Tafwid. That is my madhhab, to make Tafwid of the true meaning of such matters as the “Hand of Allah”, etc. Whatever the true meaning of “Hand of Allah” is, it is not to be understood in an anthropomorphic way—as a limb or body part.

Within Sunni orthodoxy three main schools of theology developed to deal with these matters, the Atharis/Hanbalis, the Asharis and the Maturidis. I believe all three are orthodox and personally go for the Maturidi school of theology. But the differences between these three are not significant. Their disputations amount to hairsplitting and semantics, while they all affirm the fundamental principle that we believe in whatever is said in the Quran and Sunnah about Allah, without resembling Him to His creation. So I believe Allah is above the Throne, but in a manner that befits His Majesty. I do not say He is physically above in a corporeal sense that necessitates direction. While it is possible that His being above the Throne means He possesses total control and power over the kingdom of the Heavens and the Earth, or that He is above in the sense of being superior, I say that it is Allah Who knows the true meaning and leave it at that. Likewise I believe that Allah spoke to Moses at the burning bush. Moses heard the speech of Allah, but this does not necessitate that the speech of Allah produces sound or is composed of letters. Those who argued that only sound can be heard are in error. I believe Moses truly heard Allah speaking to him, but the modality of it is beyond our comprehension. I believe that the people of Paradise, the Believers, shall behold Allah Himself with their eyes. But that is in the Afterlife, and we cannot comprehend its modality. We simply believe it to be true without delving into how. I believe the Holy Quran is the uncreated speech of Allah. As for the paper and ink of the Mushaf, those are obviously created matter. And the sound of the recitation of the Quran is also created vibrations.

Apart from anthropomorphism, the major deviation from Sunni orthodoxy was represented by the Mutazilah. They falsely claimed that monotheism required God’s attributes be all made synonymous with His Person. The result of such foolishness is that God being powerful and God being knowledgeable mean the exact same thing! By the grace of Allah, the Ummah by and large rejected that heresy.