Is Allah (s.w.t.) Transcendent?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The Wahhabi sect objects to declaring that Allah (s.w.t.) is Transcendent, beyond possessing body, parts and limbs.  They believe in an idol which they name “Allah” who has a body and a place.  In effect, they are anthropomorphists and idolaters, masquerading as Muslims. 

‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Baz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia in his time, and the leading scholar of this heretical sect, said in refutation of the correct position of Imam Nur ad-Din Ahmad ibn Mahmud asw-Swabuni (r.a.), “Then, asw-Swabuni, may Allah Guide him, mentioned, declaring Allah Transcendent beyond possessing body, pupils, auditory meatus, tongue, and larynx; and this is not the position of Ahl as-Sunnah but rather that of the scholars of condemned kalam and their contrivance, for the Ahl as-Sunnah do not negate something about Allah except what He Negates about His self or what his Messenger (s.a.w.) negated, and they do not affirm for Him except what He Affirmed for Himself or what the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) affirmed for Him, and it was not mentioned in the nuswusw, negation of these things or its affirmation; so it is obligatory to stop there and not to confront it with neither negation or affirmation, and what Ahl as-Sunnah said suffices in the affirmation of Allah’s Attributes and Names that He does resemble in it His Creation, and that He has no match.  Imam Ahmad (r.a.) said, ‘Allah is not to be described except with what He Described Himself with or what His Messenger described Him with; it does not exceed the Qur’an and ahadits’.” 

In contrast, Imam Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ath-Thahawi (r.a.), whom the Wahhabi sect claim to follow, wrote, in point 38 of his credal work, ‘Aqidah ath-Thahawiyyah, “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.” 

Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.), is reported by Imam Abu Nu’aym Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah al-Aswbahani (r.a.), in Hilyat al-Awliya’, to have said, “He spoke to Musa directly, without limbs, without organs, without lips, and without uvula!” 

Shah Quthb ad-Din Ahmad Wali’ullah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahim al-‘Umari ad-Dihlawi (q.s.), said, in his al-I’itiqad asw-Swahih, “He is neither an indivisible substance, nor an accident, nor a body, nor is He spatially bounded, nor does He possess direction.” 

Shaykh Muhammad Zahid Kawtsari al-Hanafi (r.a.) wrote about Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah’s (r.a.) similar, early obfuscation in his Maqalat al-Kawtsari, “These words are complete impudence.  What did he do with all the verses declaring Allah Most High to be far removed from anything like unto Him?  Does he expect that the idiocy that every single idiot can come up with be addressed with a specific text?  Is it not enough that Allah Most High Said ‘there is nothing whatever like unto Him’?  Or does he consider it permissible for someone to say Allah eats this, chews that, and tastes this, just because no text mentions the opposite?  This is disbelief laid bare and pure anthropomorphism.” 

سُوۡرَةُ الشّوریٰ

... لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَىۡءٌ۬‌ۖ ... (١١) 

… there is nothing whatever like unto Him ... (Surah ash-Shura’:11) 

In the opinion of Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Isma’il al-Ash’ari (r.a.) and our mutakallimun, the kufr, of every mubtadi’, sectarian, whose heresy was in itself outright kufr, or directly implied kufr, was a cause to declare them kafirun.  An example of implied kufr, would be whoever held that what he worshipped, even if he called it “Allah” had surah, an image; or hadd, a limit; or nihayah, an extremity; or might move or be still.  That is essentially an idol, and such a person is a mushrik, an idolater. 

There was no difficulty for anybody who comprehends tawhid to understand the kufr of the Karramiyyah sect, al-mujassimah, the anthropomorphists, of Khurasan, for claiming that Allah (s.w.t.), the Transcendent, is a body, and has a limit, and an extremity underneath Him, and that He is in physical contact with His Throne, and that He is the site of occurrences.  These beliefs are also the beliefs of the Wahhabi sect, and that is one of the reasons why they are not actually Muslims.