* The danger of changing the meaning of Allaah's Names and Attributes

* When dealing with the issue of belief in Allaah's Names and
Attributes, wehave to bear in mind the following important points:
1) Placing Allaah, The Most Exalted, above any likeness to human
beingsand beyond any imperfections.
2) Belief in the Names and Attributes established in the Quran and
Sunnah (the sayings, actions and approvals of Prophet Muhammad ),
without ignoring them, expanding upon them, changing or overriding
them.
3) Abandoning any desireto discover the form of those attributes by
realizing the following:
A: The attributes of AllaahAlmighty bear no resemblance whatsoever to
any human attribute. Allaah Says in the Quran (what means): "There is
nothing like Him…" [Quran 42:11]
B: The only names and attributes to be ascribed to Allaah Almighty are
those mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah.
C: We are required to believe in these names and attributes without
inquiring after their nature and manner or investigating their
essence.
This is so because attributes vary according to the self they
characterize; finding out how they manifest themselves depends upon
knowing the self and how it acts.
If someone were to ask: "How does Allaah Almighty descend to the lower
heavens?" We would reply by asking: "What is His nature?" If the
questioner says, "I donot know Allaah's nature", we say: "And we know
not how He descends!"
Tawheed of Names and Attributes is violated by the following:
1. Ta'teel (Negation): Thisis done by negating Allaah's Names or
Attributes, and denying their existence in Allaah. For instance,
negating the perfection of Allaah by denying His Names and Attributes,
or negating the proper conduct towards Allaah by abandoning worship,
or barring the created from its Creator, such as those who deny the
fact that Allaah Almighty created the universe and claim that it
developed and evolved by itself.
The deviant Islamic sect who adopted this crooked creed is called
'Al-Jahmiyyah', the followers of Jahm Ibn Safwaan. They deny the
Attributes of Allaah, the AlMighty and Exalted; in fact, their
extremists deny the Names and say:"It is not permissible to affirm a
Name or an Attribute of Allaah; for if you were to affirm a Name for
Him, you have likened Him with things with (similar) names, or an
Attribute, then you have likened Him with things of (similar)
attributes!! And whateverAllaah assigns to Himself from the Names;
then it isjust in a metaphorical sense; and not the case ofactually
naming with these Names (literally)!!"
2. Tashbeeh (Resemblance): Thismeans to resemble the attributes of the
Creator to the attributes of the created as the Christians, Jews and
some deviant sects in Islam compare the face of Allaah with the human
face, Allaah's Hand to the human hand and so on. [Al-As'ilah
Wal-Ajwibah Al-Usooliyyah, p. 35]
The people who adopted this deviant creed affirm the attributes of
Allaah, and say: "It is a must to affirm the attributes of Allaah, as
He affirmed them for Himself", but they say: "Indeed they are like the
attributes of the creation."
So, these people went into extreme in affirmation, and the people of
At-Ta'teel went into extreme in elimination of seemingly
anthropomorphic Attributes.
So these people claimed:"It is a must for you to affirm the Face of
Allaah, and this Face is like the Face of the most beautiful one from
the children of Aadam." They also claimed:"Because Allaah addressed us
with what we understand andcomprehend; (so Allaah) said (what means):
"...And remains the Face of your Lord fullof Majesty and Honour ."
[Quran55:27], so we do not understand or comprehend from the Face
except what we witness, and the best of what we see is the human."
According to their claim - we seek refuge in Allaah from such heresy -
(the Face of Allaah) is like the best one of the human youth!! And
they claim that this is rationally logical!!
3. Tahreef (Distortion): This is done through false interpretation or
change.For example, the change of the wordings of namesand attributes,
by addingto them, subtracting fromthem or changing the grammatical
constructions, such as theverse (which means): "And Allaah spoke
directly to Moosa (Moses)." [Quran 4:163) where the word Allaah they
claimed to be in the objective case, thus indicating that it was Moosa
who spoke to Allaah and not vice versa.Thus, they denied
Allaah'sattribute of talking.
Al- Jahmiyyah also adopted this innovation through such claims as that
the Istiwaa' (Allaah's Ascending above the Throne) means 'conquering
and having dominion over'; and like the saying of some of
theinnovators that 'Anger' when referring to Allaah means 'intending
to sendblessings', all of which goes under Tahreef. The true saying,
however is that Istiwaa' means ascending and being above- as is clear
in the Arabic language. The Quran came to show that its meaning is
ascending and being above the Throne in a manner which befits Allaah's
Majesty and Greatness.
4. Takyeef (to try to describe "how" an Attribute is, e.g., to say:
How Allaah's Hand is? It islike this and that, or: HowHis Descending
is? It is like this and that): This is done by attempting to determine
the manner in which Allaah's Attributes take form and also determining
their essence. The method of taking Names and Attributes mentioned in
the Quran and Sunnah at face value, without any comparison, change,
negation, nor give the"how of" is the method of the Companions their
followers and those who followed their followers, may Allaah have
mercy them.
Takyeef differs from Tamtheel and Tashbeeh in two ways:
1- Takyeef is to Relate How Something is, with restriction or not by
way of resembling. While Tamtheel and Tashbeeh indicate how something
is, in a restricted sense, by way of a likeness or resemblance
respectively.Takyeef is more general. All who do Tamtheel are doing
Takyeef. But vice versa is NOT the case.
2- Takyeef is Particular toAllaah's Attributes, while Tamtheel is
concerned with His Decree, Description and Self.
Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa'ah (the mainstream moderate Muslims) affirm for
Allaah-The Most Exalted -what He has affirmed for Himself in His Noble
Book, or what has been affirmed for Him by His Messenger Muhammad in
the authentic Sunnah, without Tamtheel. They free Allaah - the Most
Exalted -from any resemblance to His creation, whilst also rejecting
and being free from Ta'teel.