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Friday, October 14, 2011

His Managing one matter does not distract Him from another

His Managing one matter does not distract Him from another.
  • Explanation: Allah, ta^ala, brings things into existence from non-existence by His eternal Will and Power and by His eternal Creating without a need for a limb or using an instrument. Simply by His Will and Power, that are related to the happenings, the things occur at the time and place He willed for them to exist. Nothing delays or stops them. As Allah said in Surat Yasin, 82
which means: [If He willed something to be, He would order it to be and it would be.]

The One Who is attributed with such attributes is not distracted from one matter by another. Distraction happens to he who works with limbs and uses instruments. If the limbs or instruments were occupied with one matter it is hard to make them engage in another. Allah, the Exalted, is clear of this.
Delusions do not apply to Him, and He is not encompassed by the mind. He is not conceivable in the mind. He is not imagined in the self nor pictured in delusions. He is not grasped with delusions or thoughts.
  • Explanation: This is summarized by the saying of Dhunun al-Misriyy Ibrahim Ibn Tawbah, may Allah have mercy on him as related by al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad: "Whatever you imagine in your mind, Allah is different from it." This is so because whatever you imagine is a creation, and the Creator does not resemble the creation.

    Imam ash-Shafi^iyy said: "Whoever seeks to know his Creator, and concludes that his Creator is something that exists which his mind can imagine, then he is a person who likens Allah to the creation. If he settles on pure non-existence, then he is an atheist. If he concludes that He exists, and admits that his mind cannot conceive Him, then he is practicing tawhid." Since no one knows the Reality of Allah except Allah, the Salaf prohibited thinking about the Self of Allah in an attempt to seek the Reality of Allah.

    Our knowledge of Allah is by knowing what is obligatory to be of His attributes, what is impossible to be of His attributes, and what is permissible to be of His attributes. As related by al-Bayhaqiyy, Ibn ^Abbas said: "Think of the creation of Allah and do not think of the Self of Allah."

    He who thinks about the Self of Allah and imagines a picture or has a delusion and believes that this is Allah, is not a Muslim practicing tawhid. There is no difference between him and the idol worshipper. The idol worshipper worships a picture that he sculptured, and this one worships a picture that he imagined. The true believer worships the One to Whom there is none similar. As Imam ar-Rifa^iyy, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The ultimate knowledge about Allah is to be certain that He exists without a how and without a place." All of that is taken from the saying of Allah, ta^ala, in Surat ash-Shura, 11:
which means: [Nothing is like Him]

This is why Ibn ^Asakir, may Allah have mercy on him, ended his beneficial creed with producing this ayah, so he said:
which means: [Nothing is like Him and He is attributed with Hearing and Sight.]
  • Explanation: Allah mentioned the part of clearing Himself of resembling the creation before the part on the attributes of Hearing and Sight so that it would be known that His Hearing and Sight are not like the hearing and sight of others. Allah's hearing is not with an ear or any other instrument and His Sight is not with a pupil or any other instrument, because He, subhanah, is unlike anything.

    It is suitable here to end this short explanation of the terms of this text by producing what Abu Nu^aym reported in his book, Al-Hilyah. In the biography of ^Aliyy Ibn Abi Talib, he said that Nawf Ibn ^Abdullah entered the quarters of the Emirate in Kufah, that is, the house of ^Aliyy Ibn Abi Talib and said: "O Amir of the Believers, there are forty Jews at the door." To this, ^Aliyy replied: "Let them in." When they entered, they said to ^Aliyy: "Describe your Lord for us, the One Who is in the sky. How is He? How was He? When was He? On what is He?" ^Aliyy sat up and said: "You Jews, hear me out and you would not have to ask anyone else. My Lord, the Exalted, is al-'Awwal (i.e., the One Whose Existence is without a beginning). He is not from anything, nor mixed with anything, nor deluded about, nor a person that would be sought, nor is veiled, thus contained, nor did He exist after He had not been existing." And he said: "Allah spoke to Moses without limbs or instruments or lips nor uvulas.............. He who claims that our God is limited, then he is ignorant about the Creator Who is worshipped."
Praise be to Allah. We clear Allah of all non-befitting attributes, and Allah knows best.

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