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The question

What is the opinion regarding the ongoing debate between two individuals concerning the attribute of God's Descent (An-Nuzul), where one affirms it for Allah the Almighty based on شرعية (Shar'iyah) evidence, and the other rejects it claiming that it necessitates anthropomorphism (Tashbeeh) and corporealization (Tajseem) and contradicts general Quranic texts, and what is the advice given in this regard?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The creed of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah regarding the attributes of the Lord is clear: it is to affirm what Allah has affirmed for Himself and what His Messenger has affirmed for Him, and to negate what He has negated from Himself and what His Messenger has negated from Him, without distortion (tahrif), denial (ta'til), anthropomorphization (takyeef), or resemblance (tamthil). This is in accordance with His saying, the Most High: ﴿There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.﴾ Therefore, the Hadith of Nuzul (descent) is established and authentic. The invalid implications mentioned arise from the belief that Allah's descent resembles the descent of created beings, and this is an error, for His descent befits Him, Glorified and Exalted be He.

Our duty regarding Allah's essential, active, and conceptual attributes is as follows: 1. To believe in them according to the meanings and realities conveyed by the texts, which are befitting to Allah the Most High. 2. To refrain from attempting to anthropomorphize them or speak about them without knowledge. 3. To refrain from likening them to the attributes of created beings.

Based on this, there is no issue with the Hadith of Nuzul. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, informed us about Allah's descent to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains. This applies to the entire Ummah, in the East and West of the Earth, for each people has their own third of the night. This does not mean that Allah is physically everywhere; rather, Allah the Most High is above all His creation, established upon His Throne, distinct from His creation. Allah the Most High has combined negation and affirmation in His description of Himself.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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