There is no contradictionbetween the fact that Allaah descends to the lowest heaven and His having risen above the Throne (istiwaa’) .

When asked "Where is Allah ?"
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.

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

Can you please explain a 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.

A non-Muslim wants to know more about the world of the jinn.

I am getting strongly attracted to jinn and their culture i think im
inlove with them?just wana no more about them?.
Praise be to Allah.
The jinn are an important realm of created beings whom Allah mentioned
in manyplaces in the Holy Qur'an.One of the most significant of those
passages is that in whichAllah tells us, in Soorat al-Jinn, about the
great wisdom and powers of reasoning with which many of them are
blessed, even though they are different from human beings. They were
astounded when they heard the word of truth and faith and verses from
heaven recited on the lips of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him). So they were sincere towards Allah, may
He beglorified and exalted, and they were sincere towards themselves;
they could not but submit to the truth that they were listening to and
put aside all arrogance and stubbornness, doubts and hesitation. They
took their decision to believe in the Seal of theProphets, who was
foretold by 'Eesa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon him),
without paying any attention to the specious arguments and doubts of
the polytheists. For the truth cannot be sullied by sinful attempts or
concealed by flawed arguments that are aimed at driving people away
from the main purpose for which Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) was sent, which was to confirm the message brought by the
noble Messengers who came before him, which was the message of Tawheed
(affirmationof the Oneness of Allah), to spread sublime valuesand
attitudes among thepeople, and to complete the mission of all the
Prophets who came before him, the aim of all of whom was to
bringpeople forth from the worship of other people to the worship of
the Lord of people, from the constraints of this world to the
abundance of the Hereafter, from the injustice of distorted man-made
religions to the justice and mercy of Islam.
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And (remember) when We sent towards you (Muhammad SAW) Nafran (three
to ten persons) of the jinns, (quietly) listening to the Quran, when
they stood in the presence thereof, they said: "Listen in silence!"
And when it was finished, they returned to their people,as warners.
They said: O our people! Verily! We have heard a Book (this Qur'an)
sent down after Moosa (Moses), confirming what came before it, it
guides to the truth and to a Straight Path (i.e. Islam).
O our people! Respond (with obedience) to Allah's Caller (i.e. Allah's
Messenger Muhammad SAW), and believe in him(i.e. believe in that which
Muhammad SAW has brought from Allah and follow him). He (Allah) will
forgive you of your sins, and will save you from a painful torment
(i.e. Hell-fire) .
And whosoever does notrespond to Allah's Caller, he cannot escape on
earth, and there will be no Awliya' (protectors) for him besides Allah
(from Allah's Punishment). Those are in manifest error"
[al-Ahqaaf 46:29-32].
Prof. Sayyid Qutb (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
These verses speak, as does the present surah (chapter), of the great
surprise felt by the jinn when they first listened to the Qur'an. It
had sucha great effect on their minds, hearts and feelings. They were
filledwith emotion, resulting in their travel in great haste to tell
their people.They report expresses such overflowing emotions. Indeed,
it is stated in an exceptionally fluent, warm, charged and joyful
style. The surprise for them was great and their reaction was only
natural.
"We have heard a wondrous discourse." (Verse 1) The first thing they
realise about the Qur'anic discourse is thatit is unfamiliar and that
it makes the listener wonder. This is how the Qur'an is received by
anyone who listens with an open and positive mind. He will find that
the Qur'an contains intrinsic power, strong appeal and beautiful
rhythms that touch hearts and feelings. It is 'wondrous' indeed, which
tells us that the group of jinn listening to it had refined literary
tastes.
"Giving guidance to what is sagacious." (Verse 2) This is the second
prominent feature of the Qur'an which the jinn immediately felt within
their hearts. That they use the word 'sagacious'to describe it is
particularly significant. Itis true that the Qur'an guides to what is
right and sensible, but the term 'sagacious' also connotes maturity
and wisdom that distinguishes right from wrong. It adds an element of
awareness that naturally guides to the truth and to what is right and
good. It establishes a bond with the source of light and guidance, as
well as harmony with major universal laws. In doing so, the Qur'an
guides to what is sagacious, as indeed it does by providing a code of
living the like of which has never been experienced by any other human
community. Yet this system enabled individuals and communities to
attain sublime standards in personal morality and values as well as in
socialrelations and interactions.
"And we have come to believe in it." (Verse 2) This is the natural and
sound reaction to listening to the Qur'an and understanding its
nature. The surah puts this response to the unbelievers in Makkah he
used to listen to the Qur'an but who would not believe in it. They
even attributed it to the jinn, alleging that the Prophet was a
soothsayer, a poet or a madman, influenced by the jinn. Here we see
thejinn wondering at the Qur'an, profoundly influenced by its
discourse, unable to resist it. We see them able to discern the truth
and submit to it: "We have come to believe in it." They could not turn
away from the truth they clearly felt.
"We shall never associate partners with our Lord." (Verse 2) Theirs,
then, is a case of complete faith, and tainted by any element of
polytheism, delusions or superstitions. It is faith based on
understanding the truth presented by the Qur'an,i.e., the truth of
God's absolute oneness.
End quote from Fi Zilaal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Qur'an), 6/3726
This group of jinn were saved when they responded to a voice deep
inside in their hearts, asking them about the reason for refusing to
believe in the Seal of the Prophets, who was sent to complete and
perfect noble characteristics, and to call people to affirm the
oneness of Allah, may He be glorified, and believe in all the
Messengers and Prophets who had come before. Although this voice
sometimes becomes strong when the soul is pure and calmand at other
times it becomes weak when thesoul indulges in worldly distractions,
they passed the test and deserved to be commemorated forever when
Allah mentioned them in the Holy Qur'an.

Advice from a person riding a flying camel

Muhammad bin Mu'az (may Allah have mercy on him) says that a devout
lady narrated to him the following story: I saw in a dream that I was
going to enter Paradise and when I reached the entrance, I saw that so
many peoplehad assembled there. I asked, "Why have they assembled at
the gate?" A man replied, "A lady is coming to Paradise and they have
decorated it for her sake; they have come to receive her into the
Paradise." I asked who the lady was, and the man said, "She is
dark-complexioned servant-woman from theAikah town, called Sha'wanah."
I said, "By Allah! She is my sister." Meanwhile, I saw that Sha'wanah
was coming to us. She was riding a handsome highbred she-camel, which
was flying in the air. I called out her name and said,"My dear sister,
you know that we are related to each other. Make Du'aa (supplication)
to your Lord that He may grant me your companionship." She smiled and
said, "The time has not yet come for you to join me; but do take a few
words of advice from me; make Akhira (hereafter) your constant worry
and take it to your heart; let your love for Allah overpowerall other
passions and desires; and do not bother about your hour of death that
is, be prepared to meet death at any time." From the book
"Fadhail-e-Sadaqaa", translated by Prof. Abdul Karim.
Each one of us have the capacity to become people of great piety.
However, it takes an effort and sacrifice of our desires. Thus, let us
strive hard to become devouted Muslims.