Allah could not be measured with His creatures

The Attributes with which He has qualified Himself, those Attributes of His Self are not denied by Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah, nor do they commit Tahreef on the basis of reasoning by different statements, nor do they indulge in wrong Ta'weel (different interpretation of an obvious meaning of a word) of the Names of Allah and His verses, nor do they regard His Attributes as Like the Attributes of the creatures and nor do they describe their states. The reason is that nothing is in the likeness of Allah, nor is anything comparable or partner to Him. Not to follow analogy from amongst His creatures to demonstrate likeness and comparability with Him.


The question of the denial of negation is based on the Faith mentioned above. This means that when they will have faith in Allah in this sense, then they will neither negate His Attributes nor do Tahreef; neither will they describe the state nor will demonstrate likeness.


The word Al-Mawadi ' is the plural of the word Al-Mawdi ' . This implies those meanings on which it is necessary to base statements. The reason is that at the time of using it the statement carries the same meaning; and it is on that ground that the statement is not separated from these meanings.


'Allamah Ibn Al-Qaiyim (Allah's mercy be upon him) states the following regarding not committing Ilhaad in the Names of Allah and His Attributes: "Doing Ilhaad in His Names means turning away from those real meanings of His Names which are proved for them. In this word the sense of Al-Ma 'il is crucial. The word Lahd is derived from it which means that cleavage in side the grave which falls by deviating from the middle. The phrase Mulhid fid-Deen is also derived from it and it denotes the one who deviates from the Truth and who introduces such things in religion which have no bearing on it.


Ilhaad in relation to the Names and the Verses of Allah occurs either by their total negation or by denying their meanings and rejecting them altogether, or due to Tahreef from truth or by doing false Ta 'weel by deviating from the truth, or it may happen by giving some self-coined words to those names just as the Ilhaad of the Ahlul-lttihaad.


The upshot of all this is that the virtuous Salaf had faith in all such things which Allah has stated about His Self in the Quran and in all such things which the Prophet (peace be upon him) has described. This faith is absolutely free from Tahreef, Ta 'teel, Takyeefand Tamtheel. Their statement on the Self of Allah and His Attributes is the same; the statement about the Attributes is an offshoot of the statement about the Self in which the statement regarding Self is perfectly observed. So when the aim to prove the Self is to prove existence and not of the state, then the same is true regarding the Attributes. They interpret this in one of their remarks: 'We will pass them off as exactly as they have been handed down, without Ta 'weel.' Those who do not follow this remark suffer from an illusion that they mean to say that only the word should be read and no controversy should be raised about the meaning, although this is a wrong notion. Negation of Ta 'weel here aims at the reality of meaning, its essence and its state. Imam Ahmad says:


"Allah shall be qualified only with those Attributes with which He has qualified Himself or His Messenger has qualified Him. Nothing should be said beyond the Quran and the Hadith". (AI-Fatawa, 5/26)


Imam Bukhari's teacher, No'aim bin Hammad says:


"Whoever described Allah in the likeness of His creature, he has committed Kufr and if someone denied the Attributes by which Allah qualified Himself, then he also has committed Kufr: The Attributes by which Allah qualified Himself or those that were narrated about Him by His Prophet (peace be upon him) Will not be called Tashbeeh or Tamtheel."


The reason why Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama 'ah do not do Takyeef or Tamtheel is that there is no parallel to the Self of Allah which deserves His Name nor is there anything of such a greatness which equals Him in height. Allah says in Surah Maryam:


"Do you know of any who is similar to Him?"


The meaning of His having no likeness is not that none would be named like His Name, for there are many such names that are common between Him and His creatures. This in fact means that when Allah uses these names for His Self their meanings are specific to Him. No one other than Allah will be a partner to it. Partnership takes place in the total sense of the name and this sense exists only in mind; in the external cases the meaning is only partial and specific. Its position is only relative. If the relation is with the Rabb then it is specific to Him and the slave will not be a partner in it. If the relation is with the slave then the meaning is specific to him, Allah is not a partner to it.


Kufu' means equal and having similar co-status. Allah's Statement is a witness to its negation:


"And there is none coequal or comparable unto Him." (Surah AI-lkhlas, 112:4).


Nidd means equal and of co-status. Allah says:


"Then do not set up rivals unto Allah (in worship) while you know (that He Alone has the right to be worshipped)." (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:22).


"Not to follow analogy" means that the use of no other such measure is allowed which may imply an analogy made regarding Allah and that which is the point of analogy, showing equality and similarity.


This analogy is like Tamtheel (likeness) which has been defined by the Ulama of the principles of Fiqh as combining the derived with the original in the precept as a whole e.g., combining Nabeedh with alcohol under the command of interdiction since the reason behind the command, that is, the question of intoxication is common in both. The analogy on the identity of the offshoot and the root is based on the similarity. But this is not permissible that such a thing should be allowed in the case of Allah in relation to the creatures.


In the terminology of the logicians, analogy is like Shamool (inclusion) that is to argue in relation to a part from the standpoint of a whole on the ground that this part is a component of that whole along with some other parts. This analogy is based on the assumption that the elements forming part of the whole are equal to the whole, and therefore what holds true for the whole also holds true for the parts.


And this is known that between Allah, the Revered and the Exalted, and His creature there exists no comparability in any thing. The highest level of analogy is used for Allah, which means that in every quality which is proved for the creature and there is a possibility that Allah is also qualified with it, then in that quality the Creator is certainly superior to the creature. And a defect from which the creature is free, from that defect the Creator is definitely free in the first degree.


Similar is the principle for perfection also. The aim in this case is that when two persons are compared and one of them has the quality of perfection and the other does not, then the first will be regarded as being more perfect. Thus, it is necessary to accept this attribute for Allah also so long as the existence of this quality is a perfection and its absence is a defect.