We have established with competent evidences in the first episode that it is completely wrong to take the question “Where is Allah?” as a determinant of faith as erroneously put by Sheikh al-Albaani (rahimahu Allahu). We as well explained the reasons the famous hadith of Jaariyah isn’t authentic.
The necessary question a questioner will ask is, where then is Allah? We made it clear as well that Allah shouldn’t be confined to a specific place for He is the Creator of the places. Then, there are certain verses of the Qur’an and ahaadeeth that literally say Allah is in the sky في السماء, i.e He occupies the Heaven. How do we deal with these verses then?
Before citing those verses of the Qur’an and ahaadeeth that literally say Allah occupies the heaven (sky), I’ll like to mention this:
Get it known that those who champion the Aqeedah (belief) that Allah occupies the sky is Sheikh Ibn Taemiyyah (728AH) and Sheikh al-Albaani (1420AH). So it is eminent on the one who wants to discuss this topic to retrace it to the Salaf and early righteous Muslims who were solely on the right path before partisanship Islam kick-start. It is indeed preposterous to claim the Salaf and the generality of Muslims were on a wrong Aqeedah until the arrival of Ibn Taemiyyah (and al-Albaani who copied Ibn Taemiyyah) in the 7th century!
In Suratu Mulk, there are some verses in it whereby the sky (heaven) is literally associated to Allah.
In Verse 16, Allah says:
أَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ أَن يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَمُور
(Are you secure of those [who hold authority] in the heaven that He should not make the earth to swallow you up? Then! it shall be in a state of commotion.)
And verse 17 says:
أَمْ أَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ أَن يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ كَيْفَ نَذِيرِ
(Or are you secure of those [who hold authority] in the heaven that He should not send down upon you a punishment? Then shall you know how severe was My warning.)
Then, what is the actual meaning of مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ in these verses and can these verses be taken as an evidence that Allah occupies the sky?
1: The Arabs in whose language the Qur’an was revealed, if they describe something with lofty status, honour, and majesty, they describe such thing by saying:
في السماء
Antarah bn Shaddad (a famous Arab poet) said in one of his poetry lines:
مَقامُكِ في جو السماء مكانُهُ** وباعي قصيرٌ عن نوال الكواكب
As well Umayya bn Abi al-Salt (a sound Arab poet):
فأرضك كل مكرمة بنتها** بنو تيم وأنت لهم سماء
By Samaau here, it means a lofty status and honor.
And the Arab poets that have asserted this in their poetry are so so much. So the meaning of من في السماء means the one with authority, the majesty one العظيم الجليل.
Thus the correct interpretation of the verse is:
أأمنتم من الله العظيم الجليل أن يخسف بكم الأرض….
2: There’s another verse in Suratu al-An’aam verse 3:
وَهُوَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَفِي الْأَرْضِ يَعْلَمُ سِرَّكُمْ وَجَهْرَكُمْ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَكْسِبُونَ
(And He is Allah (whose authority is) in the heavens and in the earth; He knows your secret (thoughts) and your open (words), and He knows what you earn.)
This verse literally say Allah is present in the Heavens and in the earth. But this literal wording isn’t the intended meaning, it should rather be interpreted. It is then wrong to say Allah occupies the heavens and earth without a known stature, without comparison and without interpretation. How will you establish something you cannot define its form? This is certainly a wrong creed.
Allah is living and isn’t confined to a specific location because He created the places and the universe.
3: That is why we cannot just take verse 16 of Suratu Qaf:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
(And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein.)
We cannot take the wording “We are nearer to him” to its literal meaning by saying Allah Himself in His being is closer to mankind like his life vein – without comparison (تشبيه) and interpretation (تعطيل).
Just as we can’t say Allah Himself in His own Being is with us everywhere we are
(و هو معكم أينما كنتم)
Rather, His knowledge occupies everywhere mankind is.
4: As well, the meaning of “who is in the heaven من في السماء” maybe Jibreel or any of the Malaa-ik – angels that Allah sends message. As it is unanimously known that the location of the Malaa-ik is in the heaven.
5: Al-Haafiz Abu Hayyan states in the book of Tafseer – al-Bahru al-Muheet Vol 10 pg 226 while explaining the statement (من في السماء). He said:
هذا مجاز ،وقد قام البرهان العقلي على أنَّه تعالى ليس بمتحيز في جهة، ومجازُهُ أنَّ ملكوته في السماء؛ لأنَّ {في السماء} صِلَةُ (مَنْ) ففيه الضمير الذي كان في العامل فيه وهو: استقرَّ؛ أي: مَنْ في السماء هو، أي: ملكوته، فهو على حذف مضاف، وملكوته في كل شيء، لكن خصَّ السماء بالذكر لأنها مسكن ملائكته، وثمَّ عرشه وكرسيه واللوح المحفوظ ومنها تنزل قضاياه وكتبه وأمره ونهيه، أو جاء هذا على طريق اعتقادهم؛ إذ كانوا مُشَبِّهَةً فيكون المعنى ءأمنتم من تزعمون أنه في السماء، وهو المتعالي عن المكان. وقيل (مَنْ) على حذف مضاف أي خالق مَنْ في السماء، وقيل مَنْ هم الملائكة، وقيل جبريل وهو الملك الموكَّل بالخسف وغيره، وقيل مَنْ بمعنى على ويراد بالعلو القهر والقدرة لا بالمكان، وفي التحرير: الإجماع منعقد على أنه ليس في السماء بمعنى الاستقرار، لأنَّ مَنْ قال مِنَ المشبهة والمجسمة أنه على العرش لا يقول بأنه في السماء] اهـ.
Summary: “This is a metaphor, and the rational proof has been established that the Almighty is not based in one direction, and the metaphor is that his kingdom is in the heavens; Because {in heaven في السماء } is a connection (who), in it has the pronoun that is in the verb: He settled; That is: He who is in the heavens, i.e., his kingdom, and His authority is in everything, but He singled out the sky with mention because it is the abode of His angels, His throne, His lawh mahfuuz, and from the heaven is the descend of His books, commands. Or the meaning is that: if the Muslims were suspicious, then the meaning would be that you are safe from those who claim that He is in the heavens, and He is mighty than being confined to a place. Some scholars also interpreted the verse to mean it was Jibreel, or the angels, and it was said the who من في السماء) was used to mean lofty subjugation and power not by place….”
6: As for the hadith of Jaariyah that brings the phrase “where is Allah? أين الله”, we have explained this in the previous episode. Further to the reasons I’ve said earlier (in episode one) on the rejection of the hadith, it should be noted that in the narration of the hadith, there’s a man called هلال بن أبي ميمونة, his full name is Hilal bn Aliyy bn Usaamah.
Al-Haafiz al-Mizziy said in his biography in the book تهذيب الكامل Vol 30 pg 344 that Abu Haatim reported that the man is not reliable and his hadith is weak.
7: As well, teachers of Imam Muslim like Imam Malik in his Muwato pg 777, Abdur Razaaq (Vol 9 pg 175), Imam Ahmad in his Musnad Vol 3 pg 451-452, they all reported the hadith with the wording أتشهدين أن لا إله إلا الله do you believe there’s no other god worthy of worship except Allah, and not the phrase where is Allah! This wording is the correct and reliable one and that of “Where is Allah” is rejected. Ibn Hibban reported with the wording (من ربك؟).
8: Infact, Imam Bayhaqii insisted that Imam Muslim did not report the hadith of Jaariyah in his Saheeh book. And the copy of Bayhaqi, he reported it from Haakim bn Hibban, from Ibn Khuzaymah, from Imam Muslim. And this is a very reliable chain of transmission.
9: Even those who take to the hadith of Jaariyah interpreted its meaning and never said Allah occupies the heaven as said by Imam Nawawi who further explained Saheeh Muslim. They explained that:
The literal sense of being “in the sky” would mean that Allah is actually in one of His creatures, for the sky is something created. It is not permissible to believe that Allah indwells or occupies (in Arabic, hulul) any of His creatures, as the Christians believe about Jesus, or the Hindus about their avatars. What is obligatory for a human being to know is that Allah is ghaniyy or “absolutely free from need” of anything He has created. He explicitly says in surat al-Ankabut verse 6 “Verily Allah is absolutely free of need of anything in the worlds”.
10: Their interpretation continues:
Muslims lift their hands toward the sky when they make supplications (du’a) to Allah because the sky is the qibla for du’a, not that Allah occupies that particular direction – just as the Kaaba is the qibla of the prayer (salat), without Muslims believing that Allah is in that direction. Rather, Allah in His wisdom has made the qibla a sign (ayah) of Muslim unity, just as He has made the sky the sign of His exaltedness and His infinitude, meanings which come to the heart of every believer merely by facing the sky and supplicating Allah.
Imam al-Qurtubi, says:
The hadiths on this subject are numerous, rigorously authenticated (sahih), and widely known, and indicate the exaltedness of Allah, being undeniable by anyone except an atheist or obstinate ignoramus. Their meaning is to dignify Allah and exalt Him above all that is base and low, to characterize Him by exaltedness and greatness, not by being in places, particular directions, or within limits, for these are the qualities of physical bodies. See al-Jami l ahkam al-Qur’an. Vol 20 pg 10. Printed in Cairo 1387/1967.
Imam an-Nawawi mentioned all these interpretations in his book Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi Vol 18.
11: In other versions of the hadith, the slave girl cannot speak, but merely points to the sky in answer. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani has said of the various versions of this hadith, “There is great contradiction in the wording”. See Talkhis al-habir, Vol 3 pg 250. Cairo: Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya, 1399/1979.
12: The literalist interpretation of “in the sky” entails that the sky encompasses Allah on all sides, such that He would be smaller than it, and it would thus be greater than Allah, which is patently false.
For these reasons and others, Islamic scholars have viewed it obligatory to figuratively interpret the above hadith and other texts containing similar figures of speech, in ways consonant with how the Arabic language is used.
Imam al-Qurtubi said: The more exacting scholars hold that it [“in the sky من في السماء”] means, “Do you feel secure from Him who is over the sky”–just as Allah says, “Journey in the earth” (Qur’an 9:2), meaning journey over it–not over the sky by way of physical contact or spatialization, but by way of omnipotent power and control. Another position is that it means “Do you feel secure from Him who is over (‘ala) the sky,” just as it is said, “So-and-so is over Iraq and the Hijaz”, meaning that he is the governor and commander of them. See al-Jami li ahkam al-Qur’an, Vol 18 pg 216.
13: Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in his Tafseer said: “He who is in the sky من في السماء” may mean the angel who is authorized to inflict divine punishments; that is, Jibreel; the words “cause the earth to swallow you” meaning “by Allah’s command and leave”. See Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi. Vol 30 pg 70. The printed version of 32 vols. Beirut 1401/1981.
14: Imam Qadi Iyad: There is no disagreement among Muslims, one and all – their legal scholars, their hadith scholars, their scholars of theology, both those of them capable of expert scholarly reasoning and those who merely follow the scholarship of others – that the textual evidences that mention Allah Most High being “in the sky”, such as His words, “Do you feel safe that He who is in the sky will not make the earth swallow you,” and so forth, are not as their literal sense (dhahir) seems to imply, but rather, all scholars interpret them in other than their ostensive sense. See Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, Vol 5 pg 24.
To be continued…..