Dought & clear - The station of praise and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood) is intercession; it does not refer to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) sitting on the Throne

How sound is Imam Mujaahid's commentary on the verse in which Allah
says (interpretation of the meaning): "It may be that your Lord will
raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)"
[al-Isra' 17:79]? He says that Allah, may He be exalted, will seat
Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with Him on His
Kursiy (footstool) or that his Lord will seat Muhammad the Messenger
of Allah on the Throne with Him.
Praise be to Allah.
The issue of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
being seated on the Throne was and still is a cause of debate and
argument. Before discussing whether these words are sound or not, we
should point out a number of things:
Firstly:
With regard to affirmation of the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) being seated on the Throne, there is no acceptable
hadeeth witha sound isnaad from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him). The foundation on which the belief of Ahl
as-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaa'ah is based isthat whatever matters ofthe unseen
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said nothing
about remain matters belonging to theunseen and it is not permissible
to indulge indiscussion of them by way of certainty and faith.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The hadeeth about the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) sitting on the Throne was narrated by a number of people via many
marfoo' isnaads (i.e., attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him)), but all of them aremawdoo' (fabricated).
End quote fromDar' Ta'aarud al-'Aql wa'n-Naql, 3/19
Adh-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
No text concerning the issue of our Prophet sitting on the Throne is
proven; there is a waahin (worthless) report concerning this matter.
End quote fromal-'Uluw,2/1081, no. 422
Secondly:
Interpreting the Holy Qur'an on the basis of what is narrated in the
saheeh Sunnah is more appropriate than adopting the interpretation of
any of the Taabi'een – even if he was as knowledgeable as Mujaahid
(may Allah have mercy on him) – especially when we know that there is
a report from Mujaahid himself that explains thisverse in a manner
that isin accordance with the saheeh hadeeths and texts, as we shall
see below.
It was narrated from Ka'b ibn Maalik that the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "The people will be
resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, and my ummah and I will be on
a hill. My Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, will give me a green
suit to wear, then permissionwill be given to me and Ishall say
whatever Allah wills I should say, and that is the station of praise
and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood)." Narrated by Ahmad inal-Musnad,
25/60, Mu'sasat ar-Risaalah edn.
The editors of this edition (ofMusnad Ahmad) said: Its isnaad is
saheeh according to the conditions of Muslim;its men are thiqaat
(trustworthy), the men of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim),
apart from Yazeed ibn 'Abd Rabbihi – who is az-Zubaydi al-Homsi – who
was one of the men of Muslim; and 'Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn 'Abdullah ibn
Ka'b ibn Maalik – they differed as to whether he heard from his
grandfather, but the correct view is that he did hear from him. End
quote.
Another of the saheeh mawqoof reports is that narrated from Ibn 'Umar
(may Allah be pleased with him): "On the Day of Resurrection, the
people will be divided into groups. Each group will follow their
Prophet,saying: O So and so, intercede (for us), until the matter of
intercession will come tothe Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him). That is the day on which Allah will raise him to the
station of praise and glory (al-maqaam al-mahmood). Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 4718. He included it in a chapter entitled"It may be that
your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and
glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79]. Al-Bukhaari favoured this interpretation of
theverse. The interpretationof this verse as referring to the greater
intercession is the only view referred to by al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer
inTafseer al-Qur'an al-'Azeem, 5/103. He narrated it from many ofthe
Sahaabah and Taabi'een. Ibn Jareer at-Tabari said concerning that: It
is the view of most of thecommentators.
This is the most appropriate interpretation of this verse.
Thirdly:
The fact that some of thescholars quoted Mujaahid's words without
objection does not mean that they are of the same view; rather that
comes under the heading of being too lenient when quoting reports that
speak of thevirtues (of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)).
Abu Muhammad narrated from Bashshaar, that 'Abdullah ibn Ahmad said,
concerning his father:
He would be asked about a particular hadeeth and he would say: This
was narrated bySo and so – a man whomhe would name. But if he was
asked about a da'eef hadeeth, he would say: Cross it out. He was asked
about the hadeeth of Mujaahid and he classed it as da'eef. He said: O
my father, Should I cross it out? He said: No; this is a hadeeth that
speaks of some virtue (of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)), so take it as it is, and do not cross it out. End quote.
Narrated inIbtaal at-Ta'weelaat, p. 489
This report indicates the reason why the report ofMujaahid became
well-known, which is that some of the leading scholars of hadeeth,
such as Imam Ahmad, did not say anything about this report. So some of
the scholars thought that this meant that they accepted its content
and believed it. So it was said that it is one of the reports that
were accepted.
In fact that is not the case. Many of the scholars clearly stated that
these words that were spoken by Mujaahid were not sound.
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This is the view of the people of knowledge regarding the
interpretation of the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):"It may be that your Lord will raise
you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)" [al-Isra'
17:79]as referring to intercession.
It was narrated from Mujaahid that the station of praise and glory
(al-maqaam al-mahmood) means that He will seat him with Him on the
Throne on the Day of Resurrection; in their view this is a wrong
interpretation of this verse.
The view of the majority of scholars among the Sahaabah, Taabi'een and
those who came after them is that the station of praise and glory is
the station at which he will intercede for his ummah. There is a
report from Mujaahid that says something similar to the view of
themajority, so it becomes consensus on the interpretation of this
verse among those who have knowledge of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from Warqa', from Ibn Abi Nujayh, from
Mujaahid, that he said concerning the verse,"It may be that your Lord
will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and glory)"
[al-Isra' 17:79]: (This refers to) the intercession of Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
End quote fromat-Tamheed, 19/63-64
Imam adh-Dhahabi (mayAllah have mercy on him) said:
One of the oddest and most objectionable ideasis that which was
narrated from Mujaahid concerning the interpretation of the verse in
which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):"It may be that your
Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise and
glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79], that he said: He will seat him with Him on
the Throne. End quote fromMizaan al-I'tidaal, 3/439
He also said (may Allah have mercy on him):
The interpretation that Mujaahid gave of this verse, as we have quoted
above, was rejected by some of the scholars. Al-Mirwadhi put a great
deal of effortinto supporting this view (of Mujaahid), and he compiled
a book concerning the matter, and he narrated the view of Mujaahid via
Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, 'Ata ibn as-Saa'ib, Abu Yahya Qattaat and
Jaabiribn Yazeed. … So see, may Allah protect you from following whims
and desires, how this scholar of hadeeth went to extremes in his
support for Mujaahid, which caused him to accept this odd and
objectionable report.
End quote fromal-'Uluw,2/1081-1090, no. 422-426
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
One of the things that indicate that is the fact that it is proven
inas-Sihaahthat the station of praise and glory is intercession that
will be granted only to our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him).
It is astounding that some of the earlier scholars supported this
report from Mujaahid, aswas narrated by adh-Dhahabi from more than one
of them. Indeed, one of the hadeeth scholars went to extremes and
said: If someone swore an oath of threefold divorce to say that Allah
will seat Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on the
Throne, and he were to consult me, I would say to him: You are right
andhave spoken the truth!
It is such extreme views (on the part of those who affirmed the divine
attributes) that led thosewho deny the divine attributes to persist in
their way and to cast aspersions upon Ahl as-Sunnah who affirm the
divine attributes, and accuse them of likening Allah to His creation
and describing Him in physical terms. But in fact, the path of truth
lay between these two extremes.
May Allah have mercy on a man who believed what was narrated in saheeh
reports from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) concerning the divine attributes and other matters in a true
sense and in a manner that is befitting to Allah, may He be exalted,
and they did not accept concerning that matter anything that was not
narrated from him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in a
saheeh report, such as this hadeeth [i.e., the hadeeth, "… and He will
seat me on the Throne…"], let alone any report such as this one.
End quote fromas-Silsilah ad-Da'eefah, 865
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) also said:
The narration of da'eef hadeeths from some hadeeth scholars is
something for which their opponents criticise them, even though they
(their opponents) may say things even worse than that, as was
explained by Shaykh al-Islam.
One of the most famous of those who criticised them (Ahl as-Sunnah)
forthat in the modern era, and took it as proof of their (alleged)
foolishness and misguidance, is Shaykh al-Kawthari who is known for
his extreme hostility towards Ahl as-Sunnah and the scholars of
hadeeth, and for his accusing them of likening Allah to His creation
and thinking of Him in physical terms. Bydoing that he has wronged
them and fabricated lies against them.
But – as a matter of fact – he sometimes found in some of the hadeeths
and reports that they narrated material on which he could base his
false accusations, such asthe hadeeth that is narrated in the
commentaries on the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted,"It may be
that your Lord will raise you to Maqaman Mahmooda (a station of praise
and glory)" [al-Isra' 17:79], according to which he said "… and He
will seat me on the Throne…"
In fact the true interpretation of the station of praise and glory,
beyond any shadow of a doubt, is intercession. This is whatwas classed
as saheeh byImam Ibn Jareer in hisTafseer, then by al-Qurtubi; this is
the only view mentioned by al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer who did not mention
any other view, and he quoted hadeeths to support that.
In fact this is what is proven from Mujaahid himself via two isnaads
from him, as quoted by Ibn Jareer.
That report from him does not have any reliable isnaad. Adh-Dhahabi
stated that it was narrated from Layth ibn Abi Sulaym, 'Ata' ibn
as-Saa'ib, Abu Yahya al-Qattaat and Jaabir ibn Yazeed. The first two
were confused and the last two were da'eef; in fact the last one
(Jaabir ibn Yazeed) is matrook (i.e., his hadeeths are not accepted)
and he was accused (of dishonesty).… To sum up, these wordsof
Mujaahid, even if theyare narrated soundly from him, cannot be adopted
as part of our religion and belief, so long as there is no
corroborating evidence for it from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
End quote fromMukhtasar al-'Uluw, 14-20
Thus it is clear that the correct interpretation of the station of
praise and glory is that it is the station of intercession, and it is
not as mentioned in this reportfrom Mujaahid (may Allah have mercy on
him).
And Allah knows best.