A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Regarding Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah ( r.a. ), the Hanbali scholar, Imam Najm ad-Din Abu ar-Rabi’ Sulayman ibn ‘Abd al-Qawi’ ath-Thufi ( r.a. ) said, “He could bring up in one hour from the Book, the sunnah , the Arabic language, and philosophical speculation, material which no one could bring up even in many sessions, as if these sciences were before his very eyes, and he was picking and choosing from them at will.  A time came when his companions took to over-praising him, and this drove him to be satisfied with himself, until he became conceited before his fellow human beings.  He became convinced that he was a scholar capable of independent reasoning.  Henceforth, he began to answer each and every scholar great and small, past and recent, until he went all the way back to ‘Umar ( r.a. ) and faulted him in some matter.   This reached the ears of the Shaykh Ibrahim ar-Raqi’, who reprimanded him...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ) said, “Whoever says, ‘He is established on the Throne in person’, has diverted the sense of the verse to that of sensory perception.  Such a person must not neglect that the principle is established by the mind, by which we have come to know Allah, and have attributed pre-eternity to Him decisively.  If you said, ‘We read the ahadits and keep quiet, no one would criticise you; it is only your taking them in the external sense which is hideous.  Therefore, do not bring into the school of this pious man of the Salaf, Imam Ahmad, that which does not belong in it.  You have clothed this madzhab with an ugly deed, so that it is no longer said ‘Hanbali’ except in the sense of ‘anthropomorphist’.”   And yet, this is exactly what has happened with the Wahhabi sect when they claim to be of the Hanbali madzhab , and people believe them.  Imam ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a....

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ( r.a. ) commented, regarding the statement of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.), “Allah Descends to the lowest of the skies,” and that, “Allah is seen on the Day of Resurrection” and to the like; he said, “We believe in these texts and we verify their truth without asking how, or without seeking a meaning and we desire nothing of this.   We believe what the Messenger of Allah brought is truth and we do not respond to him nor do we describe Allah with more than what He has Described of Himself:   سُوۡرَةُ الشّوریٰ ... لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَىۡءٌ۬‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ (١١)   … there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that Hears and Sees (all things). (Surah ash-Shura’:11)   We simply state what He has Stated Concerning Himself, and we describe Him with that which He has Described Himself.   We do not increase in this as He is Exalted beyond anyone’s d...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ) wrote in his Daf Shubah at-Tashbih , “The obligation upon us is to believe that the Essence of Allah ( s.w.t. ) is not contained in a place, and He is neither attributed with change nor movement.”  Imam ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ) also wrote, “Some people lied when they heard about the Swifat and interpreted them according to the physical meanings, such as those who claimed that Allah ( s.w.t. ) literally descends from the sky and moves from one place to another.  This is a misunderstanding, because the one who moves would be from a place to a place, and that necessitates that the place is bigger than him and that requires movement, and all of that is impossible to be attributed to Allah ( s.w.t. ).”   Imam ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ) was a noted mufassirin , and one of the great a’immah of the Hanbali madzhab .  His Daf Shubah at-Tashbih refuted the mushabbihah , those wh...