So glory be to Him, the Mighty, to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names, and the highest description in the Hereafter and the first.
{To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth and whatever is between them and whatever is under the soil} [Ṭāhā: 6].
I praise Him for the subtleties of His blessings which cannot be counted, and I thank Him for the regularities of His apportionments which cannot be limited or exhausted.
And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except God alone, with no partner, a testimony of lofty peaks,
and other innovated terms with which the deniers vilify the people of the Sunna, they only utter them intending thereby to deny the reality of the attributes of God, Mighty and Majestic, and more than one of the Imams has condemned them. ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "My father and I were passing through the mosque, and he heard a storyteller narrating the hadith of the descent, saying: 'When it is the night of the middle of Shaʿbān, God, Mighty and Majestic, descends to the lowest heaven, without displacement, nor relocation, nor change of state.' My father, may Allah have mercy on him, trembled, his color turned pale, and he grabbed my hand. I held him until he calmed down, then he said: 'Stand with us by this meddler.' When he was adjacent to him, he said: 'O you, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, is more protective of his Lord, Mighty and Majestic, than you. Say as the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said,' and he left." [Al-Iqtiṣād fī al-Iʿtiqād by ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī (21)]. Al-Dārimī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Al-Naqḍ (p. 310): "This which you repeat time after time: 'limb', 'organ', and the like; is padding, fables, and vilification that no one in the worlds says." And he said (148): "As for your vilification of those who affirm the attributes of God, Mighty and Majestic, who believe in what God said, [claiming] that they imagine limbs and organs in them, you have claimed that against them falsely and baselessly. You are among the most knowledgeable of people regarding what they intend by them. They only affirm of them what you deny and belie, and they do not imagine in them except what God and His Messenger, peace and blessings of God be upon him, meant. They do not claim limbs or organs as you have fabricated against them, except that you spare no effort in vilifying them with lies, so that it may be more marketable for your misguidance among the ignorant." End quote. See the introduction, the seventh section (Affirming Place for God Almighty), for it contains further clarification.
فَسُبْحَانَهُ مِنْ عَزِيزٍ لَهُ الأسْمَاءُ الحُسْنَى، والمَثَلُ الأعْلَى في الآخِرَةِ والأُولَى
﴿لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَمَا تَحْتَ الثَّرَىٰ﴾ [طه: ٦].
أَحْمَدُهُ عَلَى لَطَائفِ نِعَمِهِ الَّتِي لا تُحْصَى، وأَشْكُرُهُ عَلَى وَظائفِ قِسَمِهِ الَّتِي لا تُحَدُّ وَلا تُسْتَقْصَى.
وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، شَهَادَةً عاليةَ الذُّرَى،
وغيرها من الألفاظ المبتدعة التي يُشنّع بها المعطلة على أهل السنة فإنما يطلقونها ويريدون منها نفي حقيقة صفات الله عز وجا، وقد أنكرها غير واحد من الأئمة.
قال عبد الله بن أحمد بن حنبل رحمه الله: كنت أنا وأبي عابرين في المسجد، فسمع قاصًا يقص بحديث النزول، فقال: إذا كان ليلة النصف من شعبان، ينزل الله عز وجل إلى السماء الدنيا، بلا زوال، ولا انتقال، ولا تغير حال، فارتعد أبي رحمه الله، واصفر لونه، ولزم يدي، وأمسكته حتى سكن، ثم قال: قف بنا على هذا المتخوِّض، فلما حاذاه، قال:
يا هذا، رسول الله ﷺ أغير على ربه عز وجل منك، قل كما قال رسول الله ﷺ، وانصرف.
[«الاقتصاد في الاعتقاد» لعبد الغني المقدسي (٢١)]
وقال الدارمي رحمه الله في «النقض» (ص ٣١٠): هذا الذي تكرِّرُه مَرَّةً بعد مَرَّةٍ:
(جارح)، و(عضو)، وما أشبهه؛ حشو وخرافات وتشنيع لا يقوله أحد من العالمين.
وقال (١٤٨): وأما تشنيعك على هؤلاء المقرين بصفات الله عز وجل، المؤمنين بما قال الله أنهم يتوهمون فيها جوارح وأعضاء، فقد ادعيت عليهم في ذلك زورًا وباطلًا، وأنت من أعلم الناس بما يريدون بها، إنما يثبتون منها ما أنت له معطل، وبه مكذب، ولا يتوهمون فيها إلا ما عنى الله ورسوله ﷺ، ولا يدّعون جوارح، ولا أعضاء كما تقوَّلتَ عليهم، غير أنك لا تألو في التشنيع عليهم بالكذب؛ ليكونن أروج لضلالتك عند الجهال. اهـ
وانظر المقدمة المبحث السابع (إثبات المكان لله تعالى) ففيه زيادة بيان.
