How do we respond to someone who believes that God's descent every night is to be interpreted as the descent of His mercy or His command, citing that night differs from one place to another, and that metaphor is used in the Quran, as in His Almighty saying: "And ask the village"?
The issues related to "nuzul" (descent) and "majāz" (figurative language) in the Qur’an and involve an old disagreement. The assertion of the existence of majāz does not necessitate the allegorical interpretation of Allah Almighty’s attributes. Ibn Taymiyyah clarified that diverting a word from its apparent meaning, which is befitting of Allah, requires four conditions:
1. That the word is used in its metaphorical sense in the Arabic language. 2. The existence of evidence that necessitates diverting the word from its literal meaning to its figurative one. 3. That the evidence for diversion is free from contradiction. 4. If the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, intended a meaning contrary to the apparent one, he must have clarified it to the Ummah; for the Qur’an is light and clarification, and the Messengers were sent to clarify matters to people.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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