Section Four:

“Al-Hadd” (the Boundary) is not an Attribute from the Attributes of Allah the Exalted

Al-Khattabi denounced the People of the Sunnah for their affirmation of “al-Hadd” for Allah the Exalted, claiming that they have added an attribute to Allah—the Mighty and Majestic—among those attributes not mentioned in the Book or the Sunnah.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) critiqued him in Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyyah (3/42), saying:

“The proponents of affirmation (ahl al-ithbat) who oppose al-Khattabi and his like respond to this in several ways:

First: The statement he mentioned would only be valid if they had said that He possesses an attribute called ‘al-Hadd,’ as this refuter imagined! No one has ever said this, nor would any rational person say it, for such a statement has no reality. This is because among the attributes with which anything is described—just as one is described as having a hand or knowledge—there is no specific attribute called ‘al-Hadd.’ Rather, al-Hadd is that by which a thing is distinguished from other things in terms of its characteristics and measure, as is well known of the term al-Hadd regarding existing entities.” End quote.

I say: The text of al-Khattabi’s words and the response of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) to him will follow in the appendix of this book (p. 332); so refer to it there.