Names and Attributes of Allah,- There is no contradictionbetween the fact that Allaah descends to the lowest heaven and His having risen above the Throne (istiwaa’) .

I reply "Above the seven Heavens and the Arsh"
But taking the Hadith regarding that Allah descends to the lowest
heaven in the latter part of the night.
If someone asks where isAllah and they state it is the latter 3rd of
the night now. What reply should you give. Anotherpoint is that some
people say it is the latter part of the night all the time (somewhere
on theearth at a paticular pointin time) From this they conclude that
Allah is notabove His Arsh.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly, we have to know the 'aqeedah (belief) of Ahl al-Sunnah
wa'l-Jamaa'ah concerning the names and attributes of Allaah. The
belief of Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ahis to affirm the names and
attributes which Allaah has affirmed for Himself, without distorting
or denying them, discussing how they are or likening them to anything
else. They believe that which Allaah has commanded them to believe,
for Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"There is nothing like Him, and He is the All Hearer, the All Seer"
[al-Shooraa 42:11]
Allaah has told us about Himself. He says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Indeed, your Lord is Allaah, Who created the heavens and the earth
inSix Days, and then He rose over (Istawaa) the Throne (really in a
manner that suits His Majesty).
[al-A'raaf 7:54]
"The Most Gracious (Allaah) rose over (Istawaa) the (Mighty) Throne
(in a manner that suits His Majesty).
[Ta-Ha 20:5]
and there are other aayahs which mention that Allaah rose over His Throne.
The rising of Allaah over His Throne, which meansthat He Himself is
High and above the Throne, isof a special nature which befits His
Majesty and Might. No one knows how it is except Him.
This was proven in the saheeh Sunnah, where itis narrated from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that Allaah
descends during the last third of the night. It was narrated from Abu
Hurayrah that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when
the last third of the night remains, and He says, 'Who will call Me
that I might answer him, who will ask of Me that I might give him, who
willask My forgiveness, that Imight forgive him?'" (narrated by
al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Tawheed, 6940; Muslim, Salaat al-Musaafireen,
1262)
According to Ahl al-Sunnah, the meaning of this descent is that Allaah
Himself comes down to the lowest heaven in a real sense, as befits His
Majesty, andno one knows how that is except Him.
But does the fact that Allaah comes down mean that He vacates
theThrone or not? Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said concerning a similar
question: we say that this question is based onunnecessary and
excessive questioning, and that the one who asked this is not to be
thanked for his question. We ask, are you more keen than the Sahaabah
to understandthe attributes of Allaah? If he says yes, we tell him,
you are lying. And ifhe says no, we tell him, then be content with
what they were content with. They did not ask the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), 'O Messenger of Allaah,
when He comes down, does He vacate the Throne?' Why do you need to ask
this question? Just say, He comes down. Whether or not the Throne is
vacated is not your business. You are commanded to believe the
reports, especially concerning the essence of Allaah and His
attributes, for this matter is above rational thought.
Majmoo' Fataawa Shaykh Muhammad al-'Uthaymeen, 1/204-205
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said
concerning this matter:
"The correct view is that He descends and that He does not vacate the
Throne. A person's soul remains attached to his body night and day
untilhe dies, but when he is asleep it ascends… It wassaid, night
varies, and the last third of the night comes sooner in the east than
in the west, so the descent of Allaah to the lowest heaven, of which
His Messenger spoke, happens in the east first and then in the
west..."
See Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Taymiyah, 5/132
Rising over (istiwaa') and descending are two of the practical
attributes which have to do with the will of Allaah. Ahl al-Sunnah
wa'l-Jamaa'ah believe inthat, but in this belief they avoid likening
Allaah to any of His creation or discussing how He is. It cannot occur
to them that Allaah's descending is like the descending of any of His
creatures or that His rising over the Throne is like the rising over
of any of His creatures, because they believe that there is nothing
like unto Allaah and He is the All-Hearer, All-Seer. They know on
rational grounds that there is a great difference between the Creator
and His creatures, in their essence, attributes and actions. It cannot
occur to them to ask how He descends, or how He rose over His Throne.
The point is that they do not ask how His attributes are; they believe
that there is a 'how', but it is unknown,so we can never imaginehow it
is.
We know for certain that what is narrated in the Book of Allaah or
theSunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
is true and is not self-contradictory, because Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Do they not then consider the Qur'aan carefully? Had it been from
other than Allaah, they would surely, have found therein many a
contradiction"
[al-Nisaa' 4:82]
because contradictions in the reports would mean that some of them
were showing others to be false, and this is impossible in the case of
that which Allaah and His Messenger tell us.
Whoever imagines that there are any contradictions in the Book of
Allaah or the Sunnah of His Messenger(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), or between the two, it is either because of his lack of
knowledge or because he has failed to understand properly or to ponder
the matter correctly, so let him seek further knowledge and strive to
think harder until the truth becomes clear to him. Then if the matter
is still not clear tohim, let him leave it to the One Who is
All-Knowing and let him put a stop to his illusionsand say, as those
who are firmly grounded in knowledge say, "We believe in it; the whole
of it (clear and unclear Verses) are from our Lord" [Aal 'Imraan 3:7 –
interpretation of the meaning]. Let him know that there is no
contradiction in the Qur'aan and Sunnah andno conflict between them.
And Allaah knows best.
See Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 3/237-238
Imagining that there is aconflict between Allaah'sdescending to the
lowest heaven and His having risen over the Throne and His being high
above the heavens stems from making a comparison between theCreator
and the created being. For man cannot imagine the unseen things of His
creation, such as the delights of Paradise, so how can he imagine the
Creator, may He be glorified and exalted, the Knower of the Unseen. So
we believe in what has beennarrated of His rising over (the Throne),
His descending and His being High and Exalted. We affirm that (and
statethat it is) in a manner that befits His Majesty and Might.

Meaning of Allaah’s words in the hadeeth qudsi, “I am his hearing with which he hears…”.,Names and Attributes of Allah,- Dought & clear,-

hadith for me ...
Allah Most High says: "He who is hostile to a friendof Mine I declare
war against. My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved toMe
than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing
nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love
him, I am hishearing with which he hears, his sight with which he
sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks.
If he asks me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge inMe,
I will surely protect him" (Fath al-Bari, 11.34041, hadith 6502); This
hadith was related by Imam Bukhari, Ahmadibn Hanbal, al-Bayhaqi, and
others with multiplecontiguous chains of transmission, and is sahih.
The part that I need explaining in, or rather getting confused in is,
"I am his hearing with which he hears, his sightwith which he sees,
his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks."
Praise be to Allaah.
The meaning of this partof the hadeeth is that when the believing
slavestrives to draw closer to Allaah by doing obligatory acts of
worship, then naafil acts, Allaah will bring him closer to Him, and
will raise him from the level of eemaan (faith, belief) to the level
of ihsaan, so he will start toworship Allaah as if he can see Him, and
his heart will be filled with knowledge of his Lord, love and awe for
Him, fear of Him, and glorification and veneration of Him. Whenhis
heart is filled in this manner, any attachment to anything other than
Allaah will disappear, and the person will not longer be attached to
any of his whims or desires, and he will haveno wish for anything
except that which his Lord and Master wants. At that point the person
will not speak except to remember Allaah, he willnot move except to
obeyHis command. So when he speaks, he speaks for the sake of Allaah;
when he hears he hears for thesake of Allaah; when he looks, he looks
for the sake of Allaah; i.e., he acts with the help and guidance of
Allaah and for the sake of Allaah in these matters. So he onlylistens
to that which Allaah loves; he only looks at that with which Allaah is
pleased; he onlystrikes with his hands and walks with his feet for
purposes with which his Lord and Master is pleased. It does not mean
that Allaah is his hearing and his sight, and Allaah is his hand and
his foot. Exalted be Allaah above that, for Allaah is above the Throne
and He is Exalted above all His creation. Rather what is meant is that
He guides him with regard to his hearing, seeing, walking and
striking. Hence it was narrated in another version that Allaah says:
"In Me he hears, in Me hesees, in Me he strikes and in Me he walks,"
meaning that Allaah guides him in his actions, words, hearing and
seeing. This is what it means according to Ahl al-Sunnah
wa'l-Jamaa'ah. At the same time Allaah answers his prayers, so ifhe
asks Him, He will give;if he seeks His help, He will help him; if he
seeks refuge with Him, He will grant him refuge.
Adapted from Jaami' al-'Uloom wa'l-Hukam, 2/347; Fataawa Noor
'ala'l-Darb, tape 10, by Shaykh Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on
him.
Whoever suggests a meaning other than this is wrong and is
transgressing the limits and showing disrespect towards Allaah, and he
isgoing against the Arabs' own understanding of their language and
whatthey understand by such words. Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said in
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 1/145 9: You see that Allaah has mentioned one who
worships and One Who is worshipped, one who draws close and the One to
Whom hedraws close, one who loves and the One Who isloved, one who
asks andOne Who is asked, One Who gives and one to whom it is given,
one who seeks refuge and One Whose refuge is sought. The hadeeth
refers to two who are distinct from one another, one of whom isnot the
other. If that is the case, than the apparent meaning of the words "I
am his hearing, his sight, his hand and his foot" cannot be that the
Creator is a part or an attribute of the created being. Exalted be
Allaah far above that. Rather the apparent and true meaning is that
Allaah guides this slave with regard to his hearing, sight and
striking, so he hears purely for the sakeof Allaah, by the help of
Allaah, following the commands of Allaah. Thesame applies to his
seeing, his striking and his walking.

Names and Attributes of Allah,- "Questions about Allaah'sdescending" .

'No one asks more aboutmy servants thatn myself. Who is asking me, so
I can give to him? Who is calling uon me, so I can answer him? who is
seeking my forgiveness, so I can forgive him?'". I got two questions
about this hadith.
Does Allah descend to the lowest heavnes, or to the earth. There is
another hadith saying that Allah comes in the shadow of the clouds and
some animals know it except for jinn and mankind. I am confused, does
Allah descend to the lowest heavens and animals sense it or he
descends to earth?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: The matters that you have asked about are matters of the
Unseen which man cannot know except via Revelation – i.e., the Qur'aan
and Sunnah. Undoubtedly the divine descent ends at the lowest heaven,
and Allaah does not descend to the earth, as the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated: "Our Lord descends to the
lowest heaven," he did not say: to the earth.
Secondly: With regard towhat you mentioned about Allaah coming in the
shade of the clouds, and that some animals recognize that, after
researching in the available books of hadeeth, and studying the words
of the scholars of deep knowledge who spoke of the issue of the
descent of the Lord – may He be exalted – to the lowest heaven, we did
not find anything to indicate that any such thing can be proven. What
we have to do is toaffirm that which was affirmed by the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), which is that
Allaah descends to the lowest heaven, and that He descends in a manner
that befits Him, and we refer knowledge of anything other than thatto
the One Who knows it, may He be exalted and glorified, for He is the
All-Knowing, All-Wise.
But it states in the Holy Qur'aan that when Allaah comes on the Day of
Resurrection to pass judgement, He will comein the shade of the
clouds, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Do they then wait for anything other than thatAllaah should come to
them in the shadows of the clouds and the angels? (Then) the case
would be already judged. And to Allaah return all matters (for
decision)"
[al-Baqarah 2:210]
But this will happen on the Day of Resurrection.
And it should be noted that there is no contradiction at all between
our belief that Allaah is above all things and that He is the Exalted,
the Almighty, and our belief that He descends to the lowest heaven,
for the highnessof Allaah is one of His essential attributes which
cannot alter or change – i.e., it cannot be other than it is described
at any time – so there is no contradiction between them, firstly,
because thetexts refer to both of them (i.e., His descending and His
highness), and the texts cannot say anything thatis impossible as is
well known; and secondly, because there is nothinglike unto Allaah in
all His attributes, so His descending is not like the descening of any
of His creatures so that one could say that it contradicts the idea of
His being exalted.

Do not kill your time

The Quran and Sunnah both emphasize the importance of time in the life
of a Muslim. Allaahswears in the beginning of many Soorahs (chapters)
by time or moments in time, for example Allaah Says (what means): " By
the dawn and the ten nights (i.e. the first ten days of the month
ofThul-Hijjah)..." [Quran 89: 1-2]
And also Says (what means): "By the night when it covers, and by the
day when it appears..." [Quran 92:1]
And also Says (what means): " By the morning brightness and by the
night when it covers with darkness..." [Quran 93:1]
And also Says (what means): "By the time..." [Quran 103:1]
When Allaah swears by something of His creation, it directs our
attention to the benefit of that thing. The Prophet further emphasized
the value of time in many authentic Hadeeths. For example, Mu'aath bin
Jabal related that the Prophet said: "The slave will not go forward on
the Day of Judgment until he is asked four questions: about his age
and how he spent it, about his youth and how he used it, about his
wealth and how he acquired it and spent it, and about his knowledge
and what he did with it."
Youth is considered the peak stage in human life, because young people
have the capacity and energy to accomplish many good deeds, but when
they get older, they cannot do as much. These are stages of
development as mentioned in the Quran, for example in Soorah Ar-Room
(The Romans), Allaah Says (what means): " Allaah is He Who created you
in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then
after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair ..." [Quran 30:54]
If we do not use our time effectively for something good, then we will
definitely use it for something bad, which destroys our rewards and
our lives. For example, if you do not make Thikr (mentioning Allaah
and praising Him), then you will be saying something else, perhaps
backbiting or perhaps talking about your children, your work, your
neighbors, your friends or your enemies. What counts for you is using
the time for something useful, doing good deeds and saying good
things.
Try to make a short revision at the end of each day about what you did
during that day. Ask yourself: What did I do today? What did I do that
was bad today? Make repentance for the bad things that you have done
and said, sincerely determining not to repeat such things. With the
good, determine to do it again, do it more often and do it in a better
way.
Our lives are judged according to what we did, not according to how
many years we lived. We know that life is very short, and at the end
of it comes death. We do not know when we are going to die, so we have
to make sure that we do many good deeds before we pass into the next
life and we are unable to return to repent from our bad deeds, or to
do more good deeds. Time passes very quickly as Allaah Says (what
means): "The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried
(in this world) except an afternoon and a morning." [Quran 79:46]
And also Says (what means): " And on the Day when He shall gather
(resurrect) them together,(it will be) as if they had not stayed (in
the life of this world and graves, etc) but an hour of a day." [Quran
10:45]
Time is very precious and if it passes, you cannot make use of
itagain. If yesterday passed without the performance of gooddeeds,
then it is gone; you cannotreclaim any benefit from yesterday's time.
For example, if you came to travel from one city to another and you
found that the airplane that you were supposed to travel on has
alreadyleft, do you think that it will be back to pick you up? Or if
you were traveling by train and you missed the train, do you think
that the train will reverse to come back to get you?
When it is time for a person to die, he may ask for more time to do
good deeds, as Allaah Says (what means): "Therein they will cry: 'Our
Lord! Bring us out, we shall do righteous good deeds, not what we used
to do.' (Allaah will reply): 'Did We not give you long enough lives so
that whosoever would receive admonition could receive it, and the
warner came to you? So tasteyou (the evil of your deeds). For the
wrongdoers, etc, there is no helper." [Quran 35:37]
We say that we are so busy with our work and our children, but Allaah
warns us against this saying (what means): " O you who believe! Let
not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance
of Allaah. And whoever does that, then they are the losers. And spend
(in charity) of that which We have provided for you before death comes
to one of you and he says: 'My Lord! If only you would give me respite
for a little while (i.e. return to the worldly life), then I should
give sadaqah (i.e. Zakaah) of my wealth, and beamong the righteous
(i.e. perform Hajj). And Allaah grants respite to none when his
appointed time (death) comes. And Allaah is All-Aware of what you do."
[Quran 63: 9-11]
Many people before us used their time effectively by performing good
deeds, teaching, doing something for the benefit of the Muslims, their
families and their relatives, or by advising others to be good, and
calling others to Allaah and Islam, etc. They considered every day
that passed which they did not use effectivelyfor the sake of Allaah
as denying the favors of Allaah.
Today we have those who "kill time." These people gather to talk about
things that are not related to Islam or the Muslims' affairs; they
play around or talk about others. These people are not killing time,
but they are committing slow suicide becausethey are killing their
time -- and their time is their lives! So they are slowly killing
themselves and after they die, what good deeds have they done?
The Prophet said: " There are two favors (or bounties) of Allaah's
bounties, and in them many people are cheated (or deceived): health
and free time."
People underestimate the value of these two favors, and thus, they are
cheated. This is like a person who has a house that he wants to sell.
Someone comes and offers him 50,000 dollars for it. He isn't sure of
its value, so he hesitates. Finally, he agrees and sells it for that
amount. Later he finds out that his house was actually worth a million
dollars. Imagine how cheated he feels; imagine that feeling that if he
had only known beforehand what it was really worth, he could have
gotten more!
It is the same with our time. We underestimate its great value, and
then when it is gone, we feelthat we have been cheated because we
didn't get everything out of it that we could have. But just as the
one who sold his house below its value cannot get it back and sell it
at its true value,we also cannot go back and do more with the time
that is already gone. At the end of our lives, we will not be able to
go back and live our lives over again and we will not be given more
time to do good deeds, to try to make up for the time we wasted.
So we must organize our time wisely, being very careful about what we
use it for. We must treat the free time that we have, in which we
could do good deedsas a precious resource, guarding it against waste
or misuse.