Interpreting the Names and Attributes of Allaah
19-9-2006 | IslamWeb
Question:
Asslaamu Alaikum. This is the exact wordings from the book (page 79) english translation of the explanation by Dr. Khallil Harras of Aqeedatul Waastiya of Ibn Taymiya is 'How can hand be interpretated to mean power when the text proves mentioning of palm, fingers, right and left, closing, opening, etc. Which can only happen only in the case of real hand'. Shaikh Khallil Harras was prof of Aqeeda at the Saudi University.Scholars I believe of this site are also from this university.But I know the site do not have the same opinion after reading the articles posted on your site.So I would like to know more about him and also about this university as are there people teaching wrong Aqeeda like this?Was Salaam.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
First of all, you should know that our site, especially the Fatwa Centre, is not concerned with giving judgements and evaluating other people and institutions, rather it is concerned with guiding people to what benefits them and answering their questions about religious rulings.
Furthermore, we do not know what you mean by ''wrong belief''. However, you should know that we have already established the belief of the Salaf (righteous predecessors) in regard to the Names and Attributes of Allaah, as we worship Allaah with His Names and Attributes. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90390.
We have already issued Fatwa 88618 clarifying that interpreting the text of the Quran in a way that changes its literal meaning is not always dispraised, as sometimes such interpretations are praised.
Nonetheless, interpreting the Names and Attributes of Allaah in a way that changes their meaning is not among the praised interpretations, and it is, in reality, a distortion [to their original meaning]. For more benefit in this regard, please refer to Fatwa 90030.
Finally, it should be noted that one should be concerned with what benefits him and avoid controversial issues and be concerned, instead, with issues that increase his knowledge in what he needs in order to be able to worship Allaah.
Allaah Knows best.