#Is_This_the_Time?! #What_is_the_Benefit? #Do_Not_Provoke_Sedition #Lack_of_Etiquette #Is_It_Permissible_to_Ask_the_Question? #Only_for_Worship #With_a_Sound_Heart #Political_Oppression #Economic_Backwardness #Social_Corruption
Peace be upon you and the mercy of God. My friend sent me pictures from the Oman International Book Fair, pictures from a book dedicated to children to teach them Islamic creed. What do these pictures say?
The book says: "When I was young, I used to think that God lives in a house in heaven, and that I could reach Him through ladders, but when I grew up, I realized that I was wrong, for if He were only in heaven, He would be unable to know what is on earth. I sometimes believed that God is only in the mosque, but now I know that God is in the village, the city, the school, the factory, the street... and I remembered that God is in the valleys, the forests, the mountains, and even in the air that caresses my face."
This book is part of a series titled "Tell Me About My Lord," and according to my friend, some books in the series are very beneficial and have multiple authors. But what about this passage from this book? Is God really everywhere?
First, is it appropriate to raise this topic and this question, especially since we will find those who object to the answer, and someone may object strongly, leading to verbal disputes and increasing the division among Muslims? Is it beneficial to raise this topic while Muslims are suffering from political oppression, social corruption, economic backwardness, disasters, earthquakes, and floods?
Oh brothers, it is a lack of etiquette with God Almighty to belittle the importance of knowing His names and attributes. He is the One who says: "So know that there is no god but Allah." Part of worshiping Him is knowing Him according to what He has informed us about Himself, believing in Him with correct belief, and attributing to Him what befits Him based on what He has described Himself.
Political oppression, economic backwardness, and social corruption all stem from Muslims trivializing their religion and considering their religion insignificant, except for those whom the Lord has mercy upon. You are in this world to worship Him. The tyrants will pass, the earth will be replaced by another earth, the heavens will be rolled up, the records will be opened, and everyone will be brought before Allah, the One, the Almighty, to be held accountable for what they have done, as if we had not spent but an hour of the day. The first thing we will be held accountable for is what our hearts contained of beliefs and deeds of the heart, a day when wealth and children will not benefit except for those who come to Allah with a sound heart.
Therefore, it is a flaw whenever someone comes to teach people their religion in a matter that has caused confusion and false belief. It is a flaw to say, "What is the benefit of this speech?" And to wait for this speech to translate into economic prosperity, filling of stomachs, or raising of buildings to boast about them to the West or the East.
If opening some topics leads to disagreement and division among Muslims, we say: We must teach people their religion with goodness, by distinguishing between the definitive matters and those in which there is acceptable and considered disagreement, without exaggeration or suspicion of those who disagree, but with mercy and concern for the good of all.
Under the pretext of not causing disagreement; when we talk about the reference of the Sharia and the invalidity of everything that contradicts it, we find those who attack and turn it into a reason for conflict. When we talk about the disbelief of the original disbeliever and the necessity of distinguishing oneself with one's religion, we find those who turn it into a reason for conflict. "So be quiet, let the reformers be silent, and let the beliefs of people continue to be distorted continuously, and the important thing is that we do not differ even if we all agree on falsehood!" No, brothers, this is a betrayal of the religion.
If people believe in the issue of "Where is God" with correct belief, then one of us comes to stir up controversy, we would say to him, "You are causing fitna." But when many people are confused about this matter, and books are printed and stories are sold that increase their confusion and corruption of belief, then it is our religious duty to clarify: "And [remember] when Allah took a covenant from those who were given the Scripture, [saying], 'You must make it clear to the people and not conceal it.'"
And with all of this, we are, by the grace of God, not among those who neglect the political, economic, and social life of Muslims and what they are exposed to of conspiracies, war on fitrah, systematic impoverishment, theft of wealth, injustice, and oppression. Rather, we always talk about all of this and are exposed to harm for its sake, and our souls are pleased with that as long as it is for the sake of God Almighty.
Is it permissible to raise the question "Where is God?" No, but it must be raised and answered correctly if people are confused about it, for it is one of the fundamentals of creed.
In the authentic hadith narrated by Imam Muslim from Mu'awiyah bin Al-Hakam As-Sulami, that he struck a slave girl of his who was shepherding his sheep - meaning he hit her - because he saw a wolf take one of the sheep. He informed the Prophet ﷺ that he had struck her, and the Prophet said: "That was a great thing to me" - meaning he made him understand that this was a great mistake. So Mu'awiyah said, "O Messenger of God, shall I not free her?" (free her as expiation for my sin), and the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "Bring her to me."
So Mu'awiyah brought her, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, wanted to test the slave girl's faith to see if she was a believer. He asked her two questions only, and he said to her, "Where is God?" She said, "In heaven." He said, "Who am I?" She said, "You are the Messenger of God." So the Prophet said, "Free her, for she is a believer."
I conducted a simple survey about the question "Where is God?" and provided three options, one of which is that it is not permissible at all to raise the question of where God is, and many chose this option even though it is one of the questions of faith that the Prophet ﷺ asked a simple slave girl.
God Almighty is in heaven, meaning in exaltation. He is above the Throne, and the Throne is above the heavens. He has absolute exaltation; exaltation of the self and exaltation of the attributes. The people of the Sunnah have used the book, the Sunnah, reason, fitrah, and the consensus of the Salaf in the virtuous centuries as evidence for the exaltation of God Almighty over His creation.
And when we say "in heaven," it does not mean that heaven surrounds Him, but that He is above heaven, and the meaning is one. How did you make "in" mean "above"? This is known in the language, such as His saying: "So go about in the earth for four months," meaning on the earth, and His saying about Pharaoh: "And I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees," meaning on the trunks of palm trees.
There are many evidences that God is in heaven, including His saying: "Do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not cause the earth to sink beneath you?" And the Prophet's saying, peace be upon him: "Do you not trust me while I am trustworthy from Him who is in heaven, who brings me news from heaven morning and evening" (narrated by Bukhari and Muslim), and his saying, peace be upon him: "Have mercy on those who are on earth, and He who is in heaven will have mercy on you."
Likewise, the evidences that He is in the direction of exaltation, such as His saying: "And He is the Most High, the Great," and His saying: "Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High," and His saying: "And He is the Dominant above His servants," and His saying: "They fear their Lord above them, and they do what they are commanded," and many others. Therefore, God is in heaven, meaning that He is exalted in Himself above all His creation, and this is a definitive matter even if those who oppose it differ.
As for the statement that "Allah is everywhere," as this book promotes to children, and as many Muslims unfortunately might say, it is utterly false and contrary to the evidence; because first and foremost, it contradicts what we have mentioned of the evidence that Allah is above in the heaven, and it implies that Allah is in places that are not befitting for Him, glorified be He.
Notice even the phrases we use: "Allah is above," from His exaltation, and from His purity from what does not befit Him. The matter, people, if you explain it to a simple Muslim according to his innate nature, he will agree with you and understand that his statement "everywhere" is incorrect, and he will understand that this is a requirement of his innate nature; that when he calls upon his Lord, he turns to the direction of exaltation.
So, does this belief about Allah affect the Muslim's perception of his Lord? Certainly, this belief affects your perception of Allah; when you call upon your Lord, do you not know whether He is in the heaven or is He in the folds of existence around you? Is He transcendent from the impure places or is He present in them, glory be to Him?
This flaw and confusion paved the way for corrupt beliefs that led some deviants to say that Allah is incarnated in His creation (the beliefs of incarnation and union), or that Allah is with us in our minds but does not have a real existence. Notice in the book that my friend sent me pictures of, it says as if Allah is not a separate existence from His creatures, glorified be He! But the correct belief is that Allah is above His Throne with His Self, distinct from His creation (meaning separate from them).
This method, if intended by the author, is highly flawed; to make the division binary: either Allah dwells in a house in heaven, or He is everywhere with His Self, and to say that others say what they do not say so that the listener becomes disgusted and says, "I seek refuge in Allah, Allah does not dwell in a house in heaven," so what is the alternative? That He is everywhere!
No one from Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah said that Allah dwells in a house. Look at the twisted logic, he says to you: "If He were only in heaven, He would be unable to know what is on earth!" Meaning, one of us humans these days knows what is happening thousands of kilometers away through means of information transfer, and this text is based on the idea that Allah must be with His Self on earth to know what happens there!
So, be careful of what your children read, dear people, and we advise the author to learn before he writes, and the publishing house to verify before they publish, and to rely on a religious reviewer for their works. And this thing happens a lot, dear people; that there is a great effort made to simplify the sciences of religion for the children in the form of books or cartoon films, but there is incorrect information in them. You have made a great effort, make a little more effort in verification. Of course, I will not be the right person for this task due to my preoccupation and delay in many projects, but do not lack a scholar for this task.
And I have deliberately refrained again from mentioning the name of the publishing house out of balancing between pointing out the mistake and the grave errors, and at the same time not depriving people of the good that exists in some of the series' books, even though I have reviewed other errors in another book from the series titled "My Lord, Have I Not Answered You?" The method in it is never acceptable. However, the reality is that the Islamic library suffers from a severe lack of attractive, simplified, and endearing content to the hearts of our children, so we do not want to discourage the projects but rather help in guiding and controlling them.
In conclusion, dear people, yesterday I published a statement to defend honorable scholars who made mistakes in some of what we mentioned today, and we received, as expected, a violent reaction from some opponents who want us to excommunicate them or agree with them in their mistake, and today we will receive a counterattack from those who sanctify these scholars and do not want us to criticize them. And we do not care about this nor that, praise be to Allah, but I ask Allah to bless these words and benefit with them those who seek the truth from the Muslims, and that He accepts it from the servant who loves his Lord and hopes for His forgiveness and favor.
And I recall in that the saying of the hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Batta, may Allah have mercy on him: "And whatever I agree with some of them, others will oppose me, and if I flatter their group, I will anger Allah, blessed and exalted be He, and they will not benefit me from Allah anything, and I am holding fast to the Book and the Sunnah and I seek forgiveness from Allah who is there is no god but He, and He is the Forgiving, the Merciful." End of his speech, may Allah have mercy on him.
And I ask Allah to guide us all to the right path, and peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.