Saturday, August 17, 2013

Affirmation that Allah has two feet??




I am a seeker of knowledge and I am confused: do we affirm that Allah has two feet, as is mentioned in the mawqoof hadeeth the isnaad of which ends with Ibn ‘Abbaas, “The kursiy (foot stool) is the place of the feet”? Or do we affirm that Allah has one foot, as it says in the hadeeth: “… until the Lord of Glory places His foot in it (Hell)” (or, according to another report, “… His foot on it…”)? If Allah has two feet, will Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, place both of His feet on Hell, taking intoaccount the fact that the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) “His foot” appears in the genitive (or possessive) and as we know, the genitive singular is general in meaning?


Praise be to Allah.
One of the confirmed attributes of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the foot. 
The evidence for that is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (6661) and Muslim (2848) from Anas ibn Maalik, according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Hell will keep saying, ‘Are there any more (to come)?’ until the Lord of Glory, may He be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it, then it will say, ‘Enough, enough, by Your glory!’ And all its parts will be integrated together. 
Al-Bukhaari (4850) and Muslim (2847) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Hell and Paradise disputed, and Hell said: ‘I have been favoured with the arrogant and proud.’ Paradise said: ‘What is the matter with me, that no one will enter me except the weak, humble and downtrodden?’ Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, said to Paradise: ‘You are My mercy by which I will show mercy to whomsoever I will of My slaves.’ And He said to Hell: ‘You are My punishment with which I will punish whomsoever I will of My slaves. And each of you will be full.’ As for Hell, it will not be full until Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it and it says, ‘Enough, enough.’ Then it will be full and all its parts will be integrated together, and Allah will not treat any of His creation unjustly. As for Paradise, Allah will create a creation just for it.” 
This indicates that it is confirmed that Allah, may He be exalted, has a foot. 
Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Kursiy (foot stool) is the place of the two feet, and the size of Throne cannot be known.” 
This was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah in at-Tawheed, 1/248, no. 154; Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-‘Arsh, 61; ad-Daarimi in ar-Radd ‘ala al-Muraysi; ‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in as-Sunnah; and al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak, 2/282 – he classed it as saheeh according to the conditions of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim), and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. It was also classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Mukhtasaral-‘Uluw, p. 102; and by Ahmad Shaakir in ‘Umdat at-Tafseer, 2/163. 
Abu Moosa al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Kursiy is the place for the two feet, and it creaks as a saddle creaks. 
Narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in as-Sunnah; Ibn Abu Shaybah in al-‘Arsh, 60; and by Ibn Jareer, al-Bayhaqi and others. Its isnaad was classed as saheeh in al-Fath, 8/47 and by al-Albaani inMukhtasar al-‘Uluw, p. 123-124 
These two reports confirm that Allah, may He be exalted, has two feet, and this is the belief of Ahl as-Sunnah. 
Imam Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qaasim ibn Salaam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: These hadeeths which say that our Lord smiles at the despair of His slaves when things will soon change, and that Hell will not be filled until your Lord places His foot on it, and that the Kursiy is the place for the two feet – these hadeeths, as narrated, are true in our opinion; they were narrated from trustworthy narrators to other trustworthy narrators. But if we are asked about their meaning, we do not explain them, and we have never seen any scholar discuss their meanings. 
Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma’ wa’s-Sifaat, 2/198; Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in at-Tamheed, 7/149 
In Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (2/376) it says: What we must do is affirm that which Allah has affirmed for Himself, such as two hands, two feet, fingers and other attributes that are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah, in a manner that is befitting to Allah, may He be glorified, without distorting the meaning, discussing how, likening Him to His creation or denying any of His attributes, because He, may He be glorified, says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Say (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)): "He is Allah, (the) One.
Allah-us-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks).
He begets not, nor was He begotten;
And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.”
[al-Ikhlaas 112:1-3] 
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”
[ash-Shoora 42:11]
So we take these (attributes) as true in a real sense, not metaphorical. As for going to extremes in affirming attributes that are not mentioned in the Qur’an or sunnah, we have to refrain from doing so. 
Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas 
Bakr Abu Zayd, ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal ash-Shaykh, Saalih al-Fawzaan, ‘Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan, ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Baaz. End quote. 
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Barraak (may Allah preserve him) said: This hadeeth confirms that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has a foot. Ahl as-Sunnah affirm that Allah has what is mentioned in this hadeeth in a true sense, as they affirm all other divine attributes, as they affirm that He has two hands and two eyes, and they say that He, may He be exalted, has two feet, as is mentioned in the well-known report from Ibn ‘Abbaas that describes the Kursiy (footstool) and says that it is the place for the feet – i.e., the feet of the Lord, may He be glorified and exalted. 
The view about the feet and hands is the same, and there is no room for differentiation. 
End quote from Sharh al-Waasitah, p. 172 
What is proven is that Allah, may He be exalted, will place His foot on Hell. We believe in this but we stop at this point and refrain from going further (in discussion). We do not say that He will place both of His feet on it, just as we do not say that He wrote the Torah with His two hands. Rather we adhere to what has been narrated, because with regard to the divine attributes, the matter is based on tawqeef (i.e., limiting it only to what has been narrated in sound texts). 
And Allah knows best.

2 comments:

  1. Rachel .T 8/18/13


    Dear Fatima, Aslaam Alakum

    Your post caught my attention as just 2 days back i was talking to a knowledgeble person who said how important it is not to visualise Allah in the form of a person.

    He is an arabic speaker and says its very important to find true meaning of words in the quran and hadith. In arabic the word for foot (rijal) has 2 meanings the second meaning means "the last group" it makes more sense that Allah is talking about the last group entering hell rather than his foot...

    I just wanted to let you know so you can research Allah Alaim but to protect ourself from spreading false information.

    Salam


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    Replies
    1. wa laykum salam dear sister

      I would like to thank you very much for your advise and for your concern.Thus i am very glad you wrote so i can explain better Alhamdulillah.

      The general rule in islam and the position and belief of Ahl as-Sunnah wa jama' is to confirm the authentic reports about whatever Allah says of himself.
      If you have read the article fully, there were authentic reports in sahih bukhari which confirmed that Allah, may He be exalted,says he has two feet.

      Then we should just beleive and confirm it too.

      Similarly whenever Allah says something about himself and his attributes.We should confirm without trying to imagine or dwelving into the how's.

      For example Allah says in the quran '(in meaning) :"Allah rose over the throne."-thumma stawa ala arsh
      We can only affirm that but we cannot for example ask "How did he rose?"
      why? because this knowledge is only known to Allah .!!!

      Therefore when Allah says he has feet we can affirm that without trying to visualize too.
      in Surah al Ikhlas Allah saysوَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ -(in meaning)
      wa-lam yakun lahū kufuwan ʾaḥadun=nor has He any equal.’ and in surah 42 Shura verse 11 لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ(in meaning)laysa kamithlihi shay-Nothing is like Him,1
      so even if Allah says in other part of the quran like in surah Al rahman verse 27 "وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ"-yet lasting is the Face of your Lord etc...
      we understand that it is in no way similar to that of human and should not even try to imagine it to be so. though we say face for human and face for Allah the similarity is only in name not in the attribute

      Those who tried to create the similarity ended up doing antropomorthism -portraying God as a human like the CHRISTIANS with Jesus (AS) and those who said Allah does not have a face ,and does not speak (because it will make him look like us) like the MUTAZILITE became a deviant sect BY CONTRADICTING ALLAH. because Allah himself says in the quran in surah 7:143 When Moses arrived at Our tryst and his Lord spoke to him ".
      So again we cannot deny the authentic report quran or hadith, nor ask the how!

      As for your translation of the word feet as" group" the scholars always go to the main meaning first and only if there is indication they can look for second meaning therefore even interpretation of a word will be done according to the undertsanding of the prophet and sahaba and not just after a simple translation.

      The SUFIS are those who use esotheric meaning to explain the quran ,they never use the direct meaning .
      therefore It is very important to know where you are taking the knowledge from.

      It is an extensive study to understand how the tafseer of quran is made and choice of word etc.. all we need to know FOR NOW is
      WE AFFIRM WHATEVER ALLAH AFFIRMS FOR HIMSELF AND DENY WHATEVER HE DENIES WITHOUT ASKING THE HOWS.


      As i studied about the deviant sects and their position on the attribute of Allah,i only speak with knowlegde InshAllah.
      Whatever i have posted is from an authentic source called Islamqa.com which is reliable for fiqh based questions.

      My next post will be about what we discussed inshAllah to share the light even more on this inshAllah

      I hope your doubt was cleared. You can forward share this with the knowlegeable person you know InshAllah .and if any question do not hesitate.
      wa salam

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