How can one reconcile the avoidance of pantheistic solutions with the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah in dealing with the verses pertaining to Allah's attributes, in order to refute the شبهة (misconception) of those who deny these attributes, who claim that keeping the text as it is, according to its apparent meaning — such as the Hadith Qudsi: "When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks" — leads to pantheistic solutions?
The methodology of Ahlus- wal-Jama'ah regarding the attribute of Allah is to affirm them as stated in the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah, without likening Allah to His creation (tashbeeh) or denying His attributes (ta'teel), as Allah Almighty said: (There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing), while strictly avoiding distortion (tahreef), denial (ta'teel), resemblance (tamtheel), and asking "how" (takyeef). As for the , "I am his hearing with which he hears, and his sight with which he sees...", it is one of the hadiths of wilayah (devotion/sainthood) that the misguided "unionists" (al-Ittihadiyyah) use to support their claim of the Creator's union with the creation. However, the hadith itself is an argument against them, as it affirms the existence of a Creator and a created, a Lord and a servant, a lover and a beloved, a questioner and one being questioned, which refutes their doctrine of wahdat al-wujood (unity of existence).
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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