Does Allah (s.w.t.) Have Limits Only He Knows?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The Wahhabi sect are of the belief that Allah (s.w.t.) possesses limits, hudud; but ‘only He Knows His limits’.  In effect, they do not believe that He is Omniscient and Omnipotent.  Neither do they believe that he is Omnipresent, saying He has a body and is in a place.  In effect, the Wahhabis and the Muslims do not believe in the same God.  ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Baz, the Wahhabi Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia until his demise, commented on ‘Aqidah ath-Thahawiyyah on this: “By hudud, the author means such as known by humans since no one except Allah Almighty Knows His limits.” 

Allegedly, Imam Abu Sa’id ‘Utsman ibn Sa’id as-Sijistani ad-Darimi (r.a.), in ar-Radd ‘ala Bishr al-Marisi, quoted Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah (r.a.), in Dar at-Ta’arud al-‘Aqli wa an-Naql.  From Shaykh ibn Taymiyyah’s (r.a.) section on the hadd and the ‘Arsh, it was written, “The opponent also claimed that Allah does not possess a limit, restriction, or end. 

He said, ‘And this is the basis upon which Jahm built his misguidance and derived all of his errors,’” referring to the heretic, Jahm ibn Swafwan.  He continued to quote Shaykh ibn Taymiyyah (r.a.), “It has not reached us that anyone besides Jahm in the world proceeded him with it.  Someone who was discussing this with him said to him, ‘I have come to know your intent, O non-Arab.  You intend that Allah is nothing, because all of Creation has known that there is nothing that is called a ‘thing’ except that it has a limit, a restriction, and an attribute, and that what has no limit, restriction or attribute is nothingness.  So that which is a ‘thing’ must necessarily be described with attributes.  Nothingness is described with no limit or restriction.  Your statement: ‘He has no limit,’ means that He is nothing.’’ 

Allah (s.w.t.) has a limit that no one knows but Him and it is not allowed for anyone to imagine a limit to His limit in himself, however, he is to believe in the limit and relegate the knowledge of that to Allah.  His place also has a limit and He is upon His ‘Arsh above the Seven Heavens - so these are two limits.” 

According to Dr. Jibril Fu’ad Haddad, among the notable early troves of anthropomorphist forgeries are Imam ‘Utsman ibn Sa’id ad-Darimi’s (r.a.) books against Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman Bishr ibn Ghiyats al-Marisi.  There is no actual proof he wrote it. 

Shaykh ibn Taymiyyah (r.a.) himself wrote in Muwafaqat al-Manqul, which was republished as Dar at-Ta’arud al-‘Aqli wa an-Naql, “There is agreement one and all among the Muslims and the disbelievers that Allah Most High is in the Heaven and they ascribed it to Him as a limit except al-Marisi the misguided and his friends.  Even little boys that have not reached puberty know this; when a boy is sad he raises his hand to his Lord and calls unto Him in the Heavens and nowhere else.  Everybody knows of Allah and His place better than the Jahmiyyah!”  He further continues, “All this and its like are corroborations and proofs for a limit, and whoever does not admit it has committed disbelief in the Divine Revelation and has denied the verses of Allah!” 

This is a complete contradiction to what Imam Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ath-Thahawi (r.a.) himself actually wrote: “He is beyond having limits placed on Him, or being restricted, or having parts or limbs.  Nor is He contained by the six directions as all Created things are.”  And this is the position of the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah.


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