ATTITUDE OF THE AHLI SUNNAH TO THE ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH. THE STORY OF IMAM MALIK.

Narrated Yahya ibn Yahya: “We were in the assembly of Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), when suddenly a man came and asked the Imam :
“O Abu Abdullah, the Merciful Exalted above the throne, how Exalted?”.

Malik bowed his head (thinking about the question), sweat broke out on his face, then he said:
“Exaltation,” it is known;
– “How?” (image) – unimaginable (not comprehensible by the mind);
– belief in this is obligatory,
– and the question of this is an innovation (bidah), and I see you are an innovator. Then he ordered to be expelled.”
Cited by Bayhaki in the book “Asmau va Sifat” p. 515.

Mufassir Abu Abdullah al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining the words of Imam Malik:

“Malik said (may Allah have mercy on him): Exaltation is known, that is, in the language, how is unknown, and the question of this is an innovation.
So said Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her), the mother of the faithful.
Tafsir al-Qurtubi to the 54th verse of Surah al-Araf.

Imam Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Under the external (meaning) is meant the following: and this is what it does not lend itself to interpretation, except for what the verbal message indicates. As the righteous predecessors said: “The exaltation (“Istiva”) is known.

As Sufyan (ibn Wayna) and others said: “Reading them (verses and hadiths about Sifats) is their interpretation”, since they are clear and understandable in language, and do not need tightness “ta’wil” (interpretation) and changes – this is the madhhab of the Salaf, at the same time that in this there is no likening of a person to the Sifats, in any direction.

Since the Creator, there is no one like Him in His Essence, there is also no one like Him in the Sifats (Qualities and Attributes) of Him.”
Book “Ulu” p. 251.

Al-Mula Ali al-Kari (a student of Ibn Hajar Haytami) quotes the words of Ibn Qaim Jawziya from his book “Madarij Salikin”, who says: “This indicates the preservation of the integrity of the texts about the Qualities and Attributes of Allah, in passing them on the external ( meaning), and the belief in what is understood from them, what ordinary people understand. And we do not mean ordinary people, ordinary ignoramuses, but we mean ordinary believers of this Ummah.

And this healing and convincing answer from Imam Malik, common to all Sifats (Qualities, Actions and Attributes of Allah); Hearing, Vision, Knowledge, Restraint, Power, Desire, Descent, Anger, Mercy, Laughter; the meaning of all of them is known, and in what way it is unimaginable (not comprehended by the mind), since comprehension by the mind is a branch of knowledge about the image-form of the Essence and its essence, and if this is not known, then what can we say about the comprehension of Syfats by the mind? ……

Indeed, his words exactly correspond to what Imam Abu Hanifa said in the book “Fiqh al-Akbar”.

The book “Mirkatul mafatih sharh al-Masobih” 8/217. Publishing house “Dar Qutub Ilmiya” Beirut 1422