Azami 243

Imam Ahmad (3712), Abu Yaala (5297), Tabarani in al-Kabir (10/209-210), and Bayhaqi in Asma wa Sifat (7) narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (972) and Hakim (1/509) graded it sahih, all of them through the route of Fudayl bin Marzuk, who said, "Abu Salama Juhani narrated to us, from Qasim bin Abdul-Rahman, from his father, from Ibn Masud," and he related it.Hakim said, "It is sahih according to the criterion of Muslim, provided it is free from the issue that Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah's report from his father is a mursal report, for there is disagreement over whether he heard from his father." Dhahabi commented on this, saying, "Abu Salama is not known who he is, and he has no narration in the six books."I say, Hakim's approach indicates that Abu Salama Juhani is Musa bin Abdullah, who is also known by the kunya Abu Abdullah, and he is among the narrators of Muslim. Hafiz said in Taqrib, "It is not established that Satan poked him." If that is correct, then there is no basis for Dhahabi's comment on Hakim, but there is disagreement in identifying him. Those who held that he is Musa bin Abdullah graded this hadith sahih, such as Ibn Qayyim in his book Shifa Alil (2/749-750), and his book Fawaid.Those who identified him otherwise said that he is unknown, even though Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat. Haythami alludes to this in Majma (10/136), saying, "Tabarani narrated it, and the narrators of Ahmad and Abu Yaala are the narrators of the sahih books, except for Abu Salama Juhani, whom Ibn Hibban deemed reliable." So he did not count Abu Salama among the narrators of the sahih books.If Abu Salama is unknown, he did not narrate it alone, for Abdul-Rahman bin Ishaq Wasiti corroborated him, from Qasim, with the aforementioned chain. Bazzar narrated it in Bahr Zakhkhar (1994), and Bayhaqi in Asma wa Sifat (8). However, Abdul-Rahman bin Ishaq Abu Shayba Wasiti is daif according to the majority of scholars, but this corroboration strengthens the hadith along with its daif supporting narration reported from Abu Musa Ashari, which Ibn Sunni recorded in Amal al-Yawm wal-Layla (341), though there is a break in its chain, for Abdullah bin Zayd Yami Kufi is unknown and did not live to meet Abu Musa Ashari. Haythami said in Majma (10/136-137), after attributing it to Tabarani, "It contains someone I do not know."Important notes. The basis for affirming or negating names and attributes for Allah Most High is the Book and the sahih sunnah. Whatever is mentioned in them must be affirmed, and whatever negation is mentioned in them must be negated. As for what has been neither affirmed nor negated in them, it is not valid to use it in the chapter of names and attributes. Imam Ahmad said, "Allah is not to be described except by what He described Himself with, or by what His Messenger ﷺ described Him with, not going beyond the Quran and the sunnah." See Muqaddimat Arsh by Dhahabi, edited by Dr. Muhammad Khalifa Tamimi (1/238). Accordingly, the names of Allah are established only through revealed text, and are not limited to any specific number.Hafiz Ibn Qayyim said in his valuable book Badai Fawaid (1/293), "The beautiful names cannot be counted or limited to a number, for Allah Most High has names and attributes that He has reserved for Himself in the knowledge of the unseen with Him, known by no angel brought near nor messenger sent, as in the sahih hadith, 'I ask You by every name that is Yours, by which You named Yourself, or which You revealed in Your Book, or which You have reserved for Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen with You.' So he divided His names into three categories.1 - A category by which He named Himself, and which He made known to whomever He willed among His angels or others, but did not reveal in His Book.2 - A category He revealed in His Book, making Himself known thereby to His servants.3 - A category He reserved for Himself in the knowledge of His unseen, not disclosing it to anyone among His creation.This is why he said, 'You have reserved for Yourself,' meaning He alone has knowledge of it, and the meaning is not that He alone is named by it, because this exclusivity already holds for the names He revealed in His Book. This is like the statement of the Prophet ﷺ in the hadith of intercession, 'Praises of Him will then be opened to me which I do not know now.' Those praises are by His names and attributes." End.As for his saying ﷺ, "Allah has ninety-nine names...", this does not indicate that the names are limited to this number. Had limitation been intended, he would have said, "Allah has no names but ninety-nine, whoever counts them enters Paradise," or something similar. So the meaning of the hadith is that this particular number is such that whoever counts them enters Paradise.As for "ilhad" (deviation) in the speech of the Arabs, it means turning away from the intended course, inclining, swerving, and deviating, and from this comes "lahd" in the grave, because it inclines toward the direction of the qibla away from the straight line of the digging. Deviation regarding the names of Allah takes several forms, as Hafiz Ibn Qayyim said in Badai (1/298-299).First, naming idols with them, as they named Lat from "divinity" and Uzza from "the Mighty," and called the idol a god.Second, naming Him with what does not befit His majesty, such as the Christians calling Him "Father," and the philosophers calling Him "a being necessary by His essence" or "a cause acting by nature," and the like.Third, describing Him with defects that He is above and beyond, such as the saying of the vilest Jews that He is poor, and their saying that He rested after creating His creation, and other false statements of theirs.Fourth, stripping the names of their meanings, denying their realities, and rejecting what they indicate of attributes and rulings, as done by the deniers among the Jahmiyyah and others.Fifth, making His names, glory be to Him, indicate attributes resembling the attributes of created beings, as the anthropomorphists did. Allah is far exalted above what the anthropomorphists say, greatly exalted. End, with paraphrase and abridgment.The attributes of Allah are all attributes of perfection with no deficiency in them whatsoever, and they are established only through revealed text, not to be counted or numbered, for some attributes relate to His actions, Most High, and His actions have no end, just as His words have no end. For He says, "And if whatever trees are on the earth were pens, and the sea replenished thereafter by seven more seas, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise" [Luqman 31:27].His attributes, Most High, are broader than His names, and speech about the attributes is a branch of speech about the essence. This is why the early scholars said that their modality is not to be explained.Abbas bin Muhammad Dawri said, "I heard Abu Ubayd Qasim bin Sallam mention the chapter narrated concerning the vision, the Kursi, the place of the feet, our Lord's laughter at the despair of His servants, the nearness of others, where our Lord was before He created the heaven, and that Hell will not be filled until your Lord places His foot in it, whereupon it says, 'Enough, enough,' and similar hadiths. He said, 'These hadiths are sahih, the scholars of hadith and the jurists have relied upon one another regarding them, and to us they are true, we do not doubt them. But if it is asked, "How did He place His foot?" or "How did He laugh?" we say, this is not to be explained, nor have we heard anyone explain it.'"Something similar was reported from Sufyan bin Uyayna and others. Waki said, "Whoever you see denying these hadiths, count him among the Jahmiyyah." Waki also said, "We accept these hadiths just as they came, and we do not say, 'How is this?' or 'Why did this come?'" See further, Sifat by Daraqutni (pp. 68-70), and Tawhid by Ibn Manda (3/115-116).Among His attributes, Most High, are the affirmative attributes, which are the essential and active ones, being what Allah Most High affirmed for Himself in His Book or on the tongue of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They are all attributes of perfection with no deficiency in them, such as life, knowledge, power, highness, descending, the eye, hearing, sight, the hand, the palm, the fingers, the foot, the shin, coming, arriving, laughter, wonder, joy, modesty, jealousy, taking hold, grasping, seizing, speech, the self, settling (istiwa), nearness, distance, love, dislike, hatred, pleasure, anger, wrath, will, wish, and being-with (that is, being-with in knowledge and encompassing, not being-with in essence), and other than that of what the Book and the sunnah have spoken of. All these attributes are treated in the same manner, and belief in them as real attributes is obligatory, not resembling the attributes of created beings. They are not to be likened, nor stripped of meaning, nor rejected, nor denied, nor interpreted with an interpretation contrary to their apparent meaning. See Qatf Thamar fi Bayan Aqidat Ahl Athar by the scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan, edited by Dr. Asim bin Abdullah Qurayyuti.As for the attributes negated of Allah Most High in His Book or on the tongue of His Messenger ﷺ, such as death, sleep, drowsiness, ignorance, forgetfulness, incapacity, fatigue, injustice, heedlessness, and other attributes of deficiency in regard to Him, Most High, they must be negated while affirming their opposite in the most perfect manner.