‘Jiha’ of Allah According to the Salaf

August 23, 2006

al-Qurtubi says about the Madhab of the Salaf:

The early Salaf – may Allah be pleased with them – would not negate direction (jiha), nor would they utter such. Rather, they and the rest uttered in affirmation of that (i.e. direction) for Allah Ta’ala, as did utter His Book, and His Messengers informed – to his words: None from the Salaf al-Salih denied that Allah Ta’ala Rose over His Throne in reality (haqiqatan)

He also says:

The most correct of the beliefs (adhar al-aqwal), although I do not subscribe to it nor do I prefer it, is what is manifest in the verses and traditions, and (the statements of) the noble and the excellent ones, that Allah Subhanahu is upon His Throne, as He informed in His Books, without kayf, separate from His creation. This is basically the Madhab of the Salaf al-Salih.

Ibn Rush al-Maliki says:

As for this Attribute, i.e. the belief in a direction (for Allah), then the people of Shari’a did not cease to affirm it, until the Mu’tazila and the latter Ash’arites negated it, such as Abul-Ma’ali (al-Juwayni) and those who followed him. He then said: ‘It has become obvious that the affirmation of direction (jiha) is obligatory, legally and intellectually..

The Ash’ari principles are forever cascading because they use the rational arguments in matters of unseen, which is incorrect for two reasons:

1. Unseen is beyond our intellect, and to use rational arguments therein is absurd.
2. Rational arguments, as we have noticed, are all relative, and hence, their ever cascading principles.

What is expected of the Ash’aris to remain consistent.

If they believe that Allah literally sees, they should also believe that He literally has an Eye, for both have been mentioned in the Quran and the Sunnah, and both are equally ‘athropomorphic’ to the Jahmiyyah.

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