'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
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What does that mean? Does it contradict the fact that Allaah is above
the heavens?.
Praise be to Allaah.
We have already mentioned in questions no. 992 and 11035 the evidence
that Allaah has risen above His Throne and is exalted above His
creation.
According to the hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhaari (406) and Muslim
(547) from 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Umar, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) sawsome spittle on the wall of the
mosque in the direction of the qiblah, so he scratched it off then
turned to the people and said: "If any one of you is praying, lethim
not spit in front of him, for Allaah is in frontof him when he prays."
There is no contradictionbetween this is the fact that Allaah is high
aboveHis creation.
Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] said in Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 5/101:
The words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
"When any one of you stands to pray, Allaah is in front of him so let
him not spit infront of him," mean what they appear to mean. Allaah is
above the Throne and He is in front of the worshipper. This
description may even apply to created things: when a man looks at the
sky and the sun and the moon, the sky, sun and moon are above him and
they are also in front of him.
He also said (5/672):
It is well known that whoever turns to face the moon and addresses it
– if he were able to address it – is turning to face it even though it
is above him … Similarly when a person stands to pray he is turning to
face his Lord even though He is above him, and he addresses Him onthe
basis of Him being infront of him not to his right or left, and he
calls upon Him on the basis that He is above not below.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said:
The evidence that Allaah is in front of the worshipper is:
The words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him):
"When any one of you stands to pray, Allaah is in front of him so let
him not spit infront of him."
This being in front is ascribed to Allaah in a manner that befits Him
and does not contradict His exalted state. The two may be reconciled
in two ways:
1 – It is possible to reconcile between them with regard to created
things, such as when thesun is rising, it is in frontof the one who
faces theeast, even though it is in the sky. So if they may be
reconciled with regard to a created thing then it is more apt that
they be reconciled with regard to the Creator.
2 – Even if it were not possible to reconcile them with regard to
created things, that doesnot mean that they cannot be reconciled with
regard to the Creator, because there is nothing like unto Allaah.
Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 4/287.
