Meaning of tafweed with regard to the names and attributes of Allah )i.e., thinking that only Allah knows what ismeant(.

Praise be to Allah, I know what is meant by these four things ]with
regard to the names andattributes of Allah[: tahreef )distorting the
meaning(, ta'teel )denying the apparent meaning(, tawqeef )refraining
from discussing the meaning( and tamtheel )likening Allah to His
creation(. Butsome scholars also speakof a fifth matter, namely
tafweed )thinking that only Allah knows what ismeant(, and I do not
know what tafweed is. Can you please explain to me what it means
andthe evidence for it?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
Tafweed with regard to the names and attributesof Allah, may He be
exalted, has two meanings:
1.
A correct meaning, which is affirming the wording and the meaning to
which is points, then leaving knowledge of how it is to Allah. So we
affirm the beautiful names and sublime attributes of Allah, and we
acknowledge and believe in their meanings, but we do notknow how they
are.
So we believe that Allah, may He be exalted, rose over the Throne in a
realsense as befits His Majesty, in a manner that is not like this
action on the part of human beings, but how that occurred is unknown
to us. Hence we leave knowledge of how it occurred to Allah, as Imam
Maalik and others said when asked about this rising over )istiwa'(:
The rising overis known but how is unknown.
See: Majmoo' al-Fataawaby Shaykh al-Islam ]Ibn Taymiyah[, 3/25
This is the view of Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah: We affirm the
attributes of Allah, may He be exalted,without likening Him to His
creation or discussing how. Allah, may He be exalted, says
)interpretation of the meaning(: "There is nothing like unto Him, and
He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer" ]ash-Shoora42:11[.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr )may Allah have mercy on him( said: Ahl as-Sunnah are
unanimously agreed on affirming the attributes that are mentioned in
the Qur'an and Sunnah, and interpreting them as they appear to mean,
not metaphorically. But they do not discuss how any of them are.
Al-'Uluw li'l-'Aliy al-Ghaffaar, p.250
2.
The second meaning of tafweed, which is an incorrect meaning, is
affirming the wording without understanding what it means. So they
affirm the words only, "The Most Beneficent )Allah( Istawa )rose over(
the )Mighty( Throne" ]Ta-Ha 20:5[, then they say: We do notknow what
it means or what Allah meant by it!
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
With regard to tafweed, it is known that Allah, may He be exalted, has
commanded us to ponder the Qur'an and urged us to understand it. So
how can it be possible that we are expected to turn away from
understanding it, knowing it and pondering it?
Moreover, the text )of the Qur'an( is intended to guide us, explain to
usand bring us forth from darkness into light. But if there are parts
of this text the apparent meaning of which is falsehood and disbelief,
and we are not expectedto understand the apparent meaning or the
hidden meaning, or we are expected to understand the hidden meaning
without any reference to that hiddenmeaning in the text, in either
case the text that is addressed to us does not explain the truth, and
we do not know whether the apparent meaning of the text is falsehood
and disbelief.
In fact what these people say about the One Who addressed these words
to us, that He did not make the truth clear to us and He did not
explain it to us, yet He instructed us to believe in it; and that what
He addressed us with and commanded usto follow and refer to does not
explain the truth or disclose it, and rather the apparent meaning of
these verses may lead to disbelief and falsehood; and that He wanted
us to understand from these texts or to conclude fromthem something
for which there is no supporting evidence– allof that amounts to
something that it is known from the basic teachings of Islam that
Allah and His Messenger are above such a thing and that this tafweed
is akin to the views of the distorters and heretics. … Thus it is
clear that the view of those who promote tafweed and claim that they
are following the Sunnah and the early generations of the ummah is one
of the worst views of innovation and heresy. End quote.
Dar' at-Ta'aarud, 1/115
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan )may Allah preserve him( said:
The view of the early generations was not tafweed; rather their way
was to believe in these texts as they were revealed and to affirm the
apparent meaning that is indicated by thesewords and their linguistic
usage. At the same time, they did not liken any of these )divine(
attributes to the attributes of His creation, as Allah, may He be
exalted, says )interpretation of the meaning(: "There is nothing like
unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer" ]ash-Shoora42:11[.
Al-Muntaqa min Fataawaal-Fawzaan, 25/1
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
The correct view is to refrain from interpreting the texts in a way
other than the apparent meaning and to affirm the divine attributes
that are mentioned in these textsaccording to the apparent meanings
indicated in these texts, yet refraining from discussion of their
nature, leaving knowledge thereof to Allah, and also believing that
they are not to be understood in a manner that likens the Lord or any
of His attributes to any of His creation. So we should not liken any
of His attributes to those of any of His creation or interpret them in
a way other than the way they are meant to be understood. End quote.
Fataawa ash-Shaykh Ibn Jibreen, 64/41
Shaykh 'Abd ar-Razzaaq 'Afeefi )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
The view of the salaf is that tafweed applies only to the nature of
the divine attributes, not themeaning. End quote.
Fataawa ash-Shaykh 'Abd ar-Razzaaq 'Afeefi, p. 104
Shaykh Ibn Baaz )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
Ahmad said concerning those who promote tafweed: They are worsethan
the Jahamis. Tafweed means saying: Only Allah knows what it means.
This is not permissible because the meaning is known to thescholars.
Maalik )may Allah have mercy on him( said: Istiwa' )rising over( is
known, but how it occurred is unknown. This was narrated from Imam
Rabee'ah ibn Abi 'Abd ar-Rahmaan and from other scholars. The meanings
of the divine attributes are known to and understood by Ahl as-Sunnah
wa'l-Jamaa'ah, such as pleasure, anger, love, rising over, smiling and
so on. These are meanings that are distinct from other meanings.
Smiling is something other than pleasure; pleasure is something other
than anger; anger is something other than love; hearing is something
other than seeing. All of them are known to be attributes of Allah,
may He be exalted, but they cannot be likened to the attributes of
created beings. End quote.
Fataawa Noor 'ala ad-Darb by Ibn Baaz, p. 65
He also said:
Imam Ahmad )may Allah have mercy on him( and other leading scholars
ofthe early generations denounced those who promoted tafweed and
regarded them as innovators because what their view implied was that
Allah, may He be exalted, addressed to His slaves something the
meaning of which they could not understand or know what He meant by
it. But Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is far above such a
thing and Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah know what He, may He be
glorified, meant by His words; they ascribe to Him what is implied by
His names and attributesand they declare Him to be above anything that
is not befitting to Him. They know from His words and from the words
of His Messenger )blessings and peace of Allah be upon him( that He
has the attribute of absolute perfection in allthat He has told us
Himself or that His Messenger )blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him( has told us about Him. End quote.
Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 3/55
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
Tafweed is of two types; one has to do with the meaning and the other
has to do with discussing how.
Ahl as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah refrain from discussing how, but they do
not reject the meaning; rather theyaffirm it and explain it. Anyone
who claims that Ahl as-Sunnah are the ones who promote tafweed in the
sense of saying that only Allah knows the meaning is telling lies
about them. End quote.
Liqa' al-Baab al-Maftooh.67/24
Secondly:
Some people think that the view of the salaf is tafweed; they
misunderstand that fromwhat the salaf said about the hadeeths which
speak of the divine attributes: "Let them pass as they came without
discussing how."
But this is an incorrect understanding; rather the view narrated from
the salaf indicates that they affirmed the divine attributes according
to their meanings, but theystated that they did not know how those
attributes were.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah )may Allah have mercy on him( said:
The words of Rabee'ah and Maalik, "The rising over )istiwa'( is not
unknown, how cannot be comprehended and belief in it is
obligatory",are in accordance with the words of the others, "Let them
pass as they came without discussinghow." They only stated that it is
not possible to know the nature of the attribute; they did not deny
the attribute itself.
If the scholars had believed in the mere wording, without any
understanding of the meaning in a manner that is befitting to Allah,
they would not have said "The rising over )istiwa'( is not unknownand
how cannot be comprehended", and they would not have said "Let them
pass as they came without discussing how." In that case the rising
over would not have been known; rather it would have been unknown.
Moreover, there would be no need to deny comprehension of the nature
of the attribute ifhe did not understand any meaning from the wording;
rather there would be a need to denycomprehension of the nature of the
divine attributes when the attributes are affirmed.
Moreover, the one who denies the divine attributes does not needto say
"without discussing how". The one who says that Allah is not on the
Throne does not need to say "without discussing how". Therefore if the
way of the salaf was to deny the divine attributes in end of
themselves, they would not have said "without discussing how".
Moreover, their saying "Let them pass as they came without
discussinghow" implies acceptanceof the apparent meaning of the
attributes. As these words refer to certain meanings, if the meanings
referred to are not what was intended, then they should have said: Let
these words pass whilst believing that what theyindicate is not the
intended meaning, or: Let these words pass whilst believing that Allah
is not to be described by what these words indicate. In that case they
would not be allowed to pass as they came, and in that case it would
not be said "without discussing how", because denying the nature of an
attribute that is not proven is meaningless.
End quote from al-Fataawa al-Hamawiyyah, 5/41
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen )may Allah have mercy on him( said something similar:
It is well known that the salaf said some things in general terms and
made other statements that were more specific concerning the verses
and hadeeths that speakof the divine attributes. An example of a
general statement is: "Let them pass as they came without discussing
how."
This was narrated from Makhool, az-Zuhri, Maalik ibn Anas,
Sufyaanath-Thawri, al-Layth ibn Sa'd and al-Awzaa'i.
This phrase is a refutation of those who denied the divine attributes
)ta'teel( and those who likened Allah to His creation )tamtheel(. The
words "Let them pass as they came" are a refutation of those who
denied thedivine attributes, and the words "without discussing how"
are a refutation of those who likened Allah's attributesto those of
His creation.
This also indicates that the salaf attributed sound meanings to the
texts which speak of the divine attributes, in a manner that is
befitting to Allah. This is indicatedin two ways:
1.
Their saying "Let them pass as they came". Whatis meant is accepting
themeaning indicated by these words. There is no doubt that this
wording affirms the concept in a manner that is befitting to Allah,
may He be exalted. If they did not believe that these words)that speak
of the divine attributes( had a meaning, they would have said: Let
this wording pass and do notdiscuss its meaning, and the like.
2.
Their saying: "without discussing how". It is obvious that they
affirmed the meanings of these words, because if they did not accept
themeanings of these words they would not have needed to say, Do not
discuss how. That which is denied does notexist in the first place,
soto say that we should not discuss how is meaningless. End quote.
Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 4/32
And Allah knows best.

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