Part 32

away from me the evil that has been decreed for me, for verily

You Decree (all things), and none can decree against You...”

So the Muslim turns to Allah and prays to Him so that any and all evil can be averted from him.

Additionally, it should be remembered that the concept of Divine Decree is one that a human can never fully understand, due to his limited intellect and finite capabilities. The true Muslim does not delve too deeply into the philosophical ramifications of Divine Decree. Rather, he accepts all that has occurred to him in the past as having been destined for him, and he strives to obtain what he desires in the future (as long as it is permissible for him). Since he does not know what has been written for him in the future, he ex-_ pects the best from Allah, and does everything in his power to ensure that what he wants is granted him. Just like going to work every day will ensure, if Allah wills, that he gets his pay-cheque at the end of the month, so too does making du‘a ensure, if Allah wills, that he achieves his desired goal.

379 4)-Jawab al-Kafi, Ibn al-Qayyim, p. 13. 380 Reported by al-Tirmidhi (# 464), al-Nasa’i (# 1725) and others, with an

1. Du’ a and its Inherent Proof of Allah’s Transcendency

The fact that Allah is above us is a matter that does not require much proof, for every single creature, whether Muslim or not, al- " ready has ingrained in him this simple fact. In addition, the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah that explicitly mention this matter are so numerous that they number in their thousands. For example, Allah states, describing the believers: aT Bore Ayre Fey SS They fear their Lord, who is above them.

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And He is the Qahir (the Irresistible), above His worshippers.”

Likewise, this concept is affirmed in many ahadith of the Prophet (3%). For example, when the Prophet (#) went on his miraculous journey of al-Isra wa al-Mi raj, he ascended up from Jerusalem to the seven heavens, and then to the Divine Presence, where Allah spoke to him directly from behind a veil of light.

On another occasion, the Prophet (3%) once tested a slave-girl to see whether she was a Muslim or not, and asked her:

She responded: “In the skies”. In some narrations of this hadith, she pointed upwards with her forefinger.

38! Sarah al-Nadl, 50. 38? seerah al-An'am, 18.

He then asked her,

“Who am I?” She responded: “The prophet of Allah”. So the Prophet (3) said:

Free her, for verily she is a believer”.

The point of this hadith is that the Prophet (#8) bore witness that she was a believer, based on her simple testimony that Allah was transcendent above creation and that he was Allah’s Messenger.

33-THis hadith is reported, with various chains and various wordings, in almost all of the major works of Hadith, thus the attempt by certain sects to try to cast doubt on its authenticity are ludicrous. This particular wording is reported in Muslim (1/1094).

38 For further proofs of this matter, and the danger of believing that Allah is everywhere, refer to Bilal Philips’ Fuxdamentals of tawhid, pp. 107-125.

385 4 philosophical group that tried to rationalise Islam with Greek philosophy, in particular the views of Aristotle and Socrates. This group, as a whole, does not exist in our times, although many incorrect views that exist in other groups can be traced back to the Mu' tazilah.

386 group that formed as a counter-response to the Mu’ tazilah, and tried to refute the Mu’ tazilah based on the principles of Greek philosophy. Although the early Asha’ aris were very close to the Sunnah, over time, it too evolved into a pure philosophical School of Thought, especially as regards the areas of the Names and Attributes of Allah. This School of Thought is very widespread to this day.

In contrast to this extreme position, certain groups went in the exact opposite direction, and claimed that Allah is everywhere. The most striking example of this are the extreme Safis, such as Ibn ‘Arabi and al-Hallaj, who both claimed that Allah in-dwells in creation, such that creation as a whole is the essence of Allah, and Allah is the essence of creation.

Although a detailed discussion of this concept and itshistorical development, and the implications of these deviations is beyond the scope of this work, the point that is relevant is that du‘ @ is one of the simplest and most powerful proofs that Allah is, in fact, above creation.

_ This because a person raises his hands wp to Allah, and his heart automatically and subconsciously ‘reaches up’ to Allah, expecting a response. This natural and innate feeling is a part ofa person’s fitrah, or the natural disposition that Allah puts in every man. Therefore we find that even the non-Muslim, when he prays, he finds his heart directed upwards, and his hands reaching out for the skies, beseeching Allah.

The proof of Allah’s transcendency in du‘ a has been narrated by numerous authorities of the early generations.

The great Imam Abt Hanifah (d. 150 A.H.) was asked about a person who claims that he does not know whether the Throne that Allah has risen over is in the skies, or on earth. Aba: Hanifah replied: “He is a disbeliever, for he has denied that Allah is above the skies... and because du'@ is said to Him directed upwards, not downwards”.

Imam Aba Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn Kullab wrote, while refuting those who claim that Allah is everywhere, “So we have not seen anyone, whether Arab or non-Arab, or Muslim or non-Muslim, when he is asked, ‘Where is your Lord?’ except that he will say, ‘Above the skies,’ or he will point upwards with his finger... and we have not seen any person, when he makes a du‘a, except that he raises his hands up to the skies”.

387 Reported by Imam al-Dhahabi in his al-' Uluww, p. 136. 388 Reported in Siyar A' lam al-Nubala, 11/175.

‘Uthman ibn Sa‘id al-Darimi (d. 282 A.H.) wrote: “And so there is unanimous consensus amongst the Muslims and non-Muslims that Allah is above the heavens... even the little children that have not yet come of age know this! For you find, if one of them is distressed with a matter, that he raises his hands upwards, to the skies, making a dua@ to Allah, and he does not point in any other direc-

Imam Abi Bakr ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311 A.H.), the famous scholar of hadith and compiler of Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, entitled one of the chapters in his work Kitab al-Tawhid as follows: “The Chapter concerning the evidences that Allah is above the skies, as He has informed us in His Clear Revelation, and upon the tongue of the Prophet (#8), and as is understood by the innate nature of all Muslims, whether they be scholars or laymen, free men or slaves, male or female, old or young, for everyone who makes a du‘ a to Allah raises his face towards the skies, and stretches his hands up to Allah, pointing upwards, not downwards”. 30

Even Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d. 324 A.H.) himself, whom the Ash‘ aris claim that they follow, wrote: “And we have seen all of the Muslims raising their hands up to Allah, towards the skies, because Allah is above His Throne, which is above the seven heavens. So if Allah were not above the Throne, they would not have raised their hands up to Him.””!

Other scholars who explicitly mentioned the dua as evidence of the transcendency of Allah are: Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276 A.H.), Ibn, Abi Shaybah (d. 297 A.H.), al-Khattabi (d. 388 A.H.), al-Baqillani (d. 403 A.H.), Aba Ya'‘la (d. 458 A.H.), Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (d. 463 A.H.), and many others.”

11) Abu al-Hasan’s book al-Ibanah, p. 107. Although Abi al-Hasan alAsha'ri is the founder of the Asha’ ri School of Thought, in reality the mod-

ern-day Ash’ aris have deviated greatly from his original philosophies, most of which he himself rejected before he died.

Perhaps one of the most famous of these references is the incident that occurred with Muhammad al-Hamadhani (d. 531 A.H.), one of the famous scholars of AAl as-Sunnah. While he was attending a lesson by Imam al-Haramayn Abi al-Mai‘ali al-Juwayni (d. 478 A.H.), one of the scholars who re-defined the Ash’ ari creed and evolved it into what it is today, al-Juwayni started to explain his ideology that Allah cannot be described by any direction, and even interpreted away the explicit verses to the effect that Allah is above us. Hearing this, al-Hamadhani responded: “Relieve us of all of these advanced refutations! Just explain to me how we should rid ourselves of this innate feeling that all of us have. For never does a

_person make a du‘d@ and cry out , ‘O my Lord!’ except that he finds his heart and soul, even before his tongue utters the cry, direct straight up; neither does it go left nor right, but rather it goes upwards. So tell me, what should we do about this feeling, so that we can rid ourselves of the ‘up’ and ‘down’” Hearing this, al-Juwanyi was dumbstruck, and was unable to respond, and uproar broke out in the entire gathering, and the lecture was stopped. Al-Juwayni started hitting himself on the forehead, a sign of confusion and helplessness, and cried out, ‘Hayyarani al-Hamadhani,’ or, ‘Al\- Hamadhani has indeed confused me’.””*

So the point is that no matter what advanced logic or complicated philosophy that these groups try to use in order to prove that Allah is nowhere, mankind simply cannot rid himself of the fitrah, the innate nature, that Allah has endowed him with, and part of this fitrah is that Allah is above us; He is not everywhere, nor is He