Aqidah 112

The Holy Qur'an is the speech of Allah Ta'ala.

It is eternal and uncreated.

Allah Ta'ala has referred to the Qur'an as His Speech and has linked it to Himself.

There is a unanimous consensus of the Ummah on this that the Holy Qur'an is the Speech of Allah Ta'ala and it is His quality.

Allaah Ta'ala is eternal in all His Qualities.

There was no difference of opinion during the first era of Islam that the Qur'an is uncreated; and even the predecessors after the era of the Sahabah RA were unanimous that the Qur'an is not a creation.

Allaah Ta'ala says:

"Indeed Our Speech to a thing when We desire it, then We say to it 'Be' and it is."

Therefore if everything is created by the word "Be" then it should be understood that these words and this Speech of Allah Ta'ala is not a creation. Otherwise to create this word another word "Be" would be necessary. And for the second one, a third would be necessary. This will continue into infinity. Hence it is established that the Speech of Allah Ta'ala is not a creation.

Abdullah ibn Abbas RA says regarding the Aayat:

"The Arabic Qur'an, in it there is no crookedness" -

- indicates that the Qur'an is not a creation.

"Because there is no creation except that crookedness is found in it."

Also Allah Ta'ala says regarding the Holy Qur'an that there is no crookedness in it.

Abdullah ibn Abbas RA once heard a person saying at the Ka'abah:

"O Rabb of the Qur'an..."

Then Abdllah ibn Abbas RA said:

"Do not let your tongue utter such words, indeed everything that is Marbuub (being nourished) is a creation; and the Qur'an is uncreated."

Also, if the Qur'an is a creation then it would be possible to find its equivalent.

Imaan Rabbani Mujjaddid Alfa Thaani RA said:

"The Qur'an is the Speech of Allah Ta'ala, which He has clothed with words and sounds and revealed it upon our Nabi SAW. In it He has addressed His servants with Commands and prohibitions. Just as we would bring to the fore our own speech by means of effort and the tongue, similarly our hidden object and aim is brought to the fore; in the same way Allah Ta'ala has clothed His own Speech in words and sounds without the use of effort or tongue, merely by His Perfect Power. In this way he has revealed it upon His servants and through the means of words and sounds He has made known His object. Therefore both types of speech that is His Own Speech and worded speech, are in reality the Speech of Allah Ta'ala. Just like the two types of our speech, own and worded are in reality one speech. Not that the first type (own) is literal and the second type (worded) is figurative. Because a sign of figurative is that it is permissible to negate it and (thereby) negate worded speech. And not to regard it as Allah Ta'ala's speech is undoubtedly Kufur. Like it is mentioned in the Qur'aan that the Kuffaar say:

"This (Qur'an) is but the speech of man."

Also if the Qur'aan was a creation then it would be possible to bring a similarity to it. And since it is not possible to bring anything similar to the Qur'an then it should be understood that it is eternal and uncreated.

Allah Ta'ala says:

"They listen to the Speech of Allah and then they change it."

The crux is that just like worded speech, own speech is also in reality speech. Like Allah Ta’ala says:

"They say to themselves why does Allah not punish us for what we say" , "Lower your speech or make it loud" - Saiyidina Umar RA said on the day of Saqeefah: "I prepared some speech in my mind."

*NOTE: The meaning of Saqifah is explained at the end of this article.

From these texts it is dear that both, worded speech and own speech, are in reality referred to as speech.

One should know that the speech of Allah Ta'ala is based in two meanings.

Firstly, Speech is Allah Ta'ala's encompassing Quality, that is connected to the Being of Allah Ta'ala. There is no doubt on its being eternal.

The second meaning is that by saying Speech - those words of Allah Ta'ala are meant which He has spoken. The Qur'an is referred to as the Speech of Allah Ta'ala in this meaning. This Qur'an is the Speech of Allah Ta'ala that was revealed upon Nabi Muhammad SAW, that we recite with our tongues and listen to with our ears and memorise in our hearts and is written on our pages. It is eternal and uncreated. However, the recitation of the Qur'an and its listening to and its writing is new and created, because this recitation and listening and writing are the doings of the servants. The actions of the servants are new and created actions.

The above is the view held by Imam Bukhari RA and other Ulama-ul-Muhaqqiqeen RA.

Imam Zahli's RA view is that - the person who says that the words of the Qur'an are new, that is the recitation and the listening to the Qur'an is new, then that person is a Bid'ati.

The object of Imam Bukhari RA was to differentiate between the Quality of Allah Ta'ala and the action of the slave.

- END OF ARTICLE -

* Saqifah:

Saqifah, also known as "Saqifa Bani Saeda" or Saqifat Bani Sa'ida, was a roofed building used by Banu (tribe) of Sa'ida, of the faction of the Khazraj, of Madinah. On the day that the Prophet Muhammad SAW died, the Ansar (Muslims originally from Madinah), gathered in the Saqifah to discuss the future & leadership of the Muslims. There were two tribes of the Ansar, the Khazraj and the Aws; who were both present. When the Prophet Muhammad SAW's companions, Abu Bakr RA and Umar RA learned of the gathering, they went to the meeting. After an extensive discussion, those who gathered there gave their Bai'ah (allegiance), to Abu Bakr As-Siddiq RA as the leader of the Muslims.

Aqidah 111

Allah SWT is a Speaker.

From time immemorial until eternity, Allah Ta'ala had the ability to speak, and never once was Allah ever without this quality. At any given time, Allah can listen to the entire Creation and reply to each person's Du'as and requests. Allah SWT is never unwary or kept occupied, whilst attending from one side to the other. The Taurat, the Injil, the Zabur, the Al-Qur'an-ul-Karim and all other Divine Scriptures are all manifestations and descriptions of Allah's Speech. The Speech of Allah Ta'ala is one and encompassing. All Divinely revealed Books and Scriptures are pages of Allah's encompassing Speech, that have various effects in their revelations.

Speech is a complete quality of perfection, while dumbness is a fault. All perfect qualities are established for Allah Ta'ala, and He is free and pure from all qualities of fault. Since Speech is an inherent quality of Allah Ta'ala, it is eternal i.e. has always been existent and is not newly acquired. The quality of an eternal Being is also eternal. There are Bid'atees (cursed innovators) who have this view that Allah Ta'ala is 'Mutakallim' (Speaker) in the sense that He creates speech in others. This view is clear ignorance and stupidity. It smacks of misunderstanding of the Arabic language. The word 'Mutaharrik' (something that moves), according to the dictionary means something that has the quality of movement. Something that makes other things move is not called 'Mutaharrik', hence the Creator of speech is not called 'Mutakallim'. One should understand that the Speech of Allah is unlike the speech of others. The entire Muslim Ummat is unanimous on this that Allah Ta'ala speaks. The difference of opinion among the knowledgeable scholars of Islam only arises in the reality and type of speech.

Some say that the Speech of Allah Ta'ala does not comprise of words and sound. The Speech of Allah Ta'ala is a quality of His that is part of His Being, it has neither words nor sound. The Arabic text and calligraphy that we see in the Kitaabs is merely a manifestation and proof of His Eternal Speech, which is a means that allows us to read and listen to his Eternal Speech. The words and letters that allows us to read and listen to Allaah Ta'ala's eternal Speech is just a covering and clothing for it. It is not the actual Speech. Rationally speaking, this explanation is understandable, that an eternal thing can manifest itself in a newly created thing. A new thing cannot contain an eternal thing, but a new thing can be used as a mirror to reflect the qualities of an eternal thing. The sky can be reflected and seen through the pupil of the eye, but the sky can never be contained in the eye. The Auliyaa and Aarifeen are unanimous that the Speech of Allaah Ta’ala is inherent to His Being and does not have words or sound. The Muhadditheen say that the Speech of Allah Ta'ala has words and sound, but these words and sounds are unlike the words and sounds that are found in the Universe. Just like how the Being of Alaah Ta'ala is incomparable, so too is His Speech.

"There is nothing like Him."

The Mutakallimeen say that just as the Being of Allah Ta'ala is unique and incomparable, so too is His quality of Speech. There can be no connection between Him and His created Universe. Allah Ta'ala makes use of the Arabic language as a medium for His servants to understand Him. Words and sounds are a covering for His Speech. Language is a mirror and manifestation to His Speech. The Ayats of the Qur'an, which are made up of words are also a mirror of Alaah Ta'ala's Speech. Therefore according to the Shari'ah it is Waajib to have respect and to honour the Qur'an. It cannot be touched without Wudhu (ablution).

Its recitation should also be carried out with utmost respect. Therefore the Arabic recitation of the Qur'an is a cloth for Allah's incomparable eternal Speech. Let us understand that Allah Ta'ala's unique and incomparable Speech is hidden and concealed behind this veil. The Arabic recitation is not the actual Eternal Speech, but is in fact - the covering.

Important Injunctions On Aqidah - 2.0

This short series provides a rather detailed explanation on the tenets of ALL Muslims - i.e. adherents of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. I invite all of us to read this series with due care, concern, importance and urgency, so that we double-check our stance with regards to our Basic Tenets of Faith; as laxity in doing so may cost us the difference between Jannah and Jahannam.

Bismillah.


(DISCUSSION CONTINUED)


ALLAH'S MESSENGER

Allah Most High sent Muhammad SAW, the Qurayshite unlettered prophet, to deliever His inspired message to the entire world, Arabs and non-Arabs, jinn and mankind, superseding and abrogating all previous religious systems with the Prophet's Sacred Law, except for the provisions of them that the new revelation expicitly reconfirmed. Allah has favoured him above all the other prophets and made him the highest of mankind, rejecting anyone's attesting to the divine oneness by saying "There is no god but Allah", unless they also attest to the Prophet SAW by saying "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." He has obliged men and jinn to believe everything the Prophet SAW has informed us concerning this world and the next, and does not accept anyone's faith unless they believe in what he has told us will happen after death.


The Trial of The Grave

The first of these matters is the questioning of Munkar and Nakir, two tremendous, awe-inspiring personages who sit a servant upright in his grave, body and soul, and ask him about the unity of Allah and the messengerhood of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, saying, "Who is your Lord, what is your religion, and who is your prophet?" It is they who try people in the grave, their questioning being the first ordeal after death. It is Obligatory to believe in the torment of the grave, that it is a fact, is just, and affects both body and soul, in the way Allah wills.


The Scale

It is obligatory to believe in the scale (Mizan), which consists of two scalepans and a balance indicator between them and is as great in size as the thickness of the heavens and earth. It weighs a servant's deeds through the power of Allah Most High, and the weights placed on it are as fine as an atom or mustard seed, that justice may be perfectly done. The pages recording one's good deeds will be placed in a form pleasing to behold on the side of the scale for Light, weighing it down according to their rank with Allah through His generosity, while the pages recording one's bad deeds will be placed in an ugly form on the side of Darkness, diminishing the weight of the opposite side through Allah's justice.


The Bridge Over Hell

It is obligatory to believe in the bridge over hell (Sirat), a bridge spanning the breadth of hell, sharper than a sword and finer than a hair, which unbelievers' feet shall slip from by Allah's decree and plunge them into hell, and the feet of believers shall be made fast upon by Allah's generosity, and from thence they shall be conducted to the Final Abode - Paradise.


The Watering Place

It is Obligatory to believe in a watering place people will come to, the watering place of Muhammad SAW, which believers will drink from before entering paradise, after having crossed the bridge over hell. Whoever drinks from it will never thirst again. Its width is month's journey across, its water whiter than milk and sweeter than honey, and there are as many pitchers around it as stars in the sky. Two aqueducts pour into it from Kauthar, a spring in
Paradise.


The Final Reckoning

It is obligatory to believe in the Final Reckoning and the disparity in the way various people are dealt with therein, some made to answer, others pardoned, and some admitted to paradise without reckoning, being the intimaters of Allah (muqurrabun). Allah Most High shall ask whomever He wills of the Prophets if they have conveyed their message, ask unbelievers why they denied the messengers, ask those of reprehensible innovation (bid'ah) about the sunnah, and ask Muslims about their works.


Believers Shall Depart from Hell

It is obligatory to hold that true sinful believers who believe in the oneness of Allah, who follow the prophet of their time will be taken out of hell after having paid for their sins, through the generosity of Allah Mighty and Majestic. No one who is a true monotheist will abide in the fire forever.


The Intercession of the Prophets and Righteous

It is obligatory to believe in the intercession of first the prophets, then religious scholars, then martyrs, then other believers; the intercession of each one commensurate with his rank and position with Allah Most High. Any believer remaining in hell without intercessor shall be taken out of it by the favour of Allah, no one who are believers remaining in it forever, and anyone with an atom's weight of faith in his heart will eventually depart from it.


The Excellence of the Sahabah RA - the Prophetic Companions

It is obligatory to believe in the excellence of the prophetic Companions RA. One must think best of all of the Companions RA of the Prophet SAW and praise them just as Allah Almighty and Majestic praised in the Qur'an (Surah 3: Ayat 110); and His messenger have praised them too. May Allah SWT be pleased with all of them. Ameen.


CONCLUSION

Allah SWT has been conveyed by prophetic hadith and attested to by the words of the early Muslims. Whoever believes it with deep conviction belongs to those of the truth, who follow the sun, and distinguishes himself from the faction who have strayed, the sect adhering to repehensible innovation (bid'ah). We ask from Allah through His Mercy for perfect certainty and steadfastness in religion, for ourselves and all Muslim; He is the Most Merciful of the Merciful.


(This is the end of this mini-series)

Important Injunctions On Aqidah - 1.5

This short series provides a rather detailed explanation on the tenets of ALL Muslims - i.e. adherents of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. I invite all of us to read this series with due care, concern, importance and urgency, so that we double-check our stance with regards to our Basic Tenets of Faith; as laxity in doing so may cost us the difference between Jannah and Jahannam.

Bismillah.


(DISCUSSION CONTINUED)


Allah's Will

Allah Most High wills all that exists and directs all events. Nothing occurs in the physical or spiritual world, be it meager or much, little or great, good or evil, of benefit or detriment, faith or unbelief, knowledge or ignorance, triumph or ruin, increase or decrease, obedience or sin; save through His ordinance, apportionment, wisdom, and decision. What He wills is, and what He does not will is not. Neither sidelong glance nor passing thought is beyond His design. He originates all and returns it, does what He wills, and none can repulse His command. There is no rescinding His destiny, no flight for a servant from disobeying Him except through divinely given success therein and mercy, and no strength to obey Him save through His choice and decree.

If all mankind, jinn, angels, and devils combined their efforts to move or to still a single particle of the universe without His will and choice, they would be unable to. His will, like His other attributes, exists in His entity and He ever possesses it. He has willed from preeternity the existence of all things at the times He has chosen. They occur at the times which He has destined from beginningless eternity, occurring neither before nor after, but taking place in accordance with His knowledge and will, without substitution or alternation. He directs events without successive throughts or waiting for time to elapse, which is why nothing divers Him from anything else.


Allah's Hearing and Sight

Allah Most High is all-hearing and all-seeing. He hears and sees, no sound however slight eluding His hearing, and no sight however minute escaping His vision. Distance does not obscure His hearing nor darkness hinder His vision. He sees without pupil or eyelids, and hears without ear canal or ears, just as He knows without a heart, seizes without limb, and creates without implement. His attributes no more resemble the attributes of His creatures than His entity resembles the entity of His creatures.


Allah's Speech

Allah Most High speaks, commands, forbids, promises, and warns, with beginninglessly eternal speech that is an attribute of His entity, not resembling the speech of creatures in being a sound generated by the passage of air or impact of bodies, nor in letters articulated by compressing the lips or moving the tongue. The Qur'an, Torah, Evangel, and Psalms are His Books, revealed to His Messengers (upon whom be peace). The Qur'an is recited with tongues, written in books, and memorised in hearts despite being beginninglessly eternal, an attribute of the entity of Allah Most High, unsubject to disseverance and separation by conveyance to hearts or pages. Musa AS heard the speech of Allah without sound or letter, just as the righteous see the entity of Allah Most High in the afterlife without substance or accident.

Since Allah possesses all of the above attributes, He is living, knowing, omnipotent, willing, hearing, seeing, and seeking by virtue of His life, power, knowledge, will, hearing, sight, and speech, not merely by virtue of His entity.


Allah's Acts

Everything besides Allah Glorious and Exalted exists through His action, proceeding from His justice in the best, fullet, most perfect and equitable way. He is wise in His acts and just in His decrees. His justice is not comparable to the justice of His servants, since injustice may only be imagined from a servant through his disposal of what belongs to another, while this is inconceiveable from Allah Most High, since nothing belongs to anyone besides Him that He should unjustly disclose of it. Everything besides Him, be it human, jinn, angel, devil, heaven, earth, animal, vegetable, mineral, substance, accident, intelligible, or sensory, is contingent, and was brought into existence through His power after not being, created by Him after it was nothing. He alone existed in preeternity, and nothing else. He then originated creation, that His omnipotence might be mainfest, His prior decree effected, and His eternal word realised; not from needing or requiring anything in creation.

Our origination, beginning, and responsibility are of Allah's generosity, not because of their being obligatory for Him, and His blessings and benefaction exist because of His favour, not because of being due from Him. Everything that exists is indebted to Him for His generosity and goodness, His blessings and benevolence; for He is well able to pour all manner of torments upon His servants and try them with every variety of suffering and illness, and were He to do so, it would be just on His part and not wicked or unfair. Allah Mighty and Majestic, rewards His servants, the believers, for their acts of obedience because of His generosity and in fulfillment of His word, not because of their deserving it or His owing it to them. He is not obliged to anyone to do anything, nor is injustice on His part conveivable, for He does not owe any rights to anyone. The obligation of men and jinn to perform acts of obedience is established by His having informed them of it upon the tongues of the prophets AS, and not by unaided human reason. He sent the prophets and manifested the truth of their messages by unmistakable, inimitable miracles. They have communicated His commands, prohibitions, promises and warnings, and it is obligatory for mankind and jinn to believe in what they have conveyed.

Important Injunctions On Aqidah - 1.0

This short series provides a rather detailed explanation on the tenets of ALL Muslims - i.e. adherents of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. I invite all of us to read this series with due care, concern, importance and urgency, so that we double-check our stance with regards to our Basic Tenets of Faith; as laxity in doing so may cost us the difference between Jannah and Jahannam.

Bismillah.


OUR AQIDAH WITH REGARDS TO ALLAH ALMIGHTY

Introduction

All Praise be to Allah, Who originates all and returns it, who does as He wills, He of the noble Throne and overwhelming force, the fuide of His elect servants to the wisest path and straightest way, who has blessed them, after having had them attest to His Oneness, by preserving the tenets of their religion from the darknesses of doubt and misgivings, bringing them through His providence and guidance to follow His chosen Messenger and the example of his noble and honoured Companions; He who manifests Himself and His acts to His servants through His sublime attributes, of which none possess knowledge save those who give heed with a present mind.


Allah's Oneness

He is one is - being without partner, unique without peer, ultimate without opposite, alone without equal. He is one, preeternal, beginninglessly uncreate, everlastingly abiding, unceasingly existent, eternally limitless, the ever selfsubsisting through whom all else subsists, ever enduring, without end. He is, was and ever will be possessed of all attributes of majesty, unannihilated by dissolution or separation through the passage of eons or terminus of interims. He is the First and Last, the Outward and Inward, and He has knowledge of everything.


Allah's Transcendence

Allah is not a body with a form, or a limitary, quantitative substance, not resembling bodies in quantifiability or divisibility, or in being a substance or equalified by substance, or being an accident or qualified by accidents. He does not resemble anything that exists, nor anything that exists resemble Him. There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, nor is He like unto anything. He is not delimited by magnitude, contained by places, encompassed by directions, or bounded by heavens or earth.

He is 'established on the Throne' (Al-Qur'an: Surah 20: Ayat 5) in the way He says and the meaning He intends, 'established' in a manner transcending contact, settledness, fixity, indwelling, or movement. The Throne does not bear Him up, but is borne, up by the subtlety of His infinite power, as are the angels who carry it, and all are powerless in His grasp. He is above the Throne, the heavens, and all else to the farthest reaches of the stars, with an aboveness that does not increase His nearness to the Throne or heavens, or His distance from the earth and what lies beneath it. He is as exalted in degree above the Throne and the heavens as He is above the earth and its depths, though He is near to everything in existence, nearer to a servant than his own jugular vein, and is witness to everything. His nearness no more resembles the nearness of objects to one another than His entity resembles the entities of objects.

He does not dwell in anything, nor anything indwell in Him. He is as exalted above containment in space as he is above confinement in time. He was, before creating time and space, and is not even as He was. He is distinguished from His creation by His attributes. There is nothing in His entity other that Him, nor is His entity in what is other than Him. He is beyond change and motion; events neither occurs within Him nor changes befall Him of majestly exalted above change, and in the attributes of His perfection beyond needing any increase in perfection. The existence of His entity is known by human reason, and in the after life is beheld by the eyesight of the righteous as a beatitude and favour, to consummate their perfect joy with the sight of His Noble Countenance.


Allah's Life and Almighty Power

Allah Most High is living, almighty, overmastering, triumphant, unaffected by inability or weakness; unsusceptible to drowsiness, sleep, annihilation, or death; possessed of absolute soverignty and might, of irresistible power and force. His is the majesty and sway, the creation and command. The heavens are enfolded in His right hand and all beings are powerless in His grasp. He alone creates, begins, gives existence, and originates. He creates all beings and their acts, ordains their sustenance and terms. Nothing possible is out of His grasp, the disposal of no matter is beyond His power. The number of things He can do is limitless, the amount He knows is infinite.


Allah's Knowledge

Allah knows all things knowable, encompassing all that takes place from the depths of the earth to the highest heaven. He knows without an atom's weitht in the earth or heavens escaping His knowledge. He knows the creeping of a black ant across a great stone on a lightless night, and the motion in the air of a particle of dust on a windy day. He knows the concealed and the yet more hidden, the buried recesses of hearts, the movement of thought, and the opacities of the inmost soul; with preeternal, beginningless knowledge that He has always possessed from the limitless reaches of past eternity, not with awareness originating within Him through being imparted or conveyed.