Ashʿariyyah: The Tricky Question, ‘Your Qur’anic Recitation – Created or the Speech of Allāh?’
Shaykh Mūsá Richardson
An excerpt from the audio lecture by the name: “Affirmation of the Hands of Allāh and His Descending” based on the Hāʾiyyah poem of the famous scholar Ibn Abī Dāwūd al-Sijistānī.
The trickery of seeking one answer to the two-fold question , ‘When you recite the Qurʾān, is it your speech or the speech of Allāh?’ a means to confuse and trick the one questioned, since this situation requires explanation and has two issues:
The speech (created action) of the recitor (the conveyor of the Qurʾān in this case)
The Qurʾān being the speech of Allāh.
This type of trickery is commonly employed by the Ashʾarī or Jahmee who wishs to confuse the unsuspecting Muslim. Their basis is rhetoric wheras Ahl al-Sunnah’s base is the Book, the Sunnah and understanding of the Salaf. Another arugement used is, ‘Imām al-Nawawī, is his from the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah?’ Then presenting a mistake on the part of one of the noble scholars of the past in regards to the issue of al-istiwá. Again, should you agree with this error (because generally, you know Imām al-Nawawī to be a huge scholar), then they will say, ‘good, you are with us’, should you reject it, they will say ‘you call yourself Ahl al-Sunnah but look, you reject An-Nawawee, the famous sunnī scholar!’ Yet, if you were to present to them scores of statements from the Imāms of the Salaf on the issue of al-istiwá, the attributes of Yadayn, the Qurʾān being the Speech of Allāh etc. they would not wish to engage you in such a discussion, only seeking to ref. the few mistaken statements they can find from our great scholars of the past. It is this type of insincerity and corruption that breads no success, may Allāh make us from those whose hearts are always open to the truth.
The full lecture explains the following lines of poetry from Ibn Abī Dāwūd’s Haa’iyyah
(10) And perhaps a Jahmee might deny His Right Hand as well,
While both of His Hands are giving out all kinds of bounties.
(11) And say: The Ever-Compelling descends each night,
Without asking for exact details, magnificent is the One God and most worthy of praise.
(12) Down to the lowest heaven, granting bounties from His Grace,
As the gates of the heavens are opened and spread widely.
(13) He says: Is there anyone seeking forgiveness who would like to meet a Forgiver?
Or anyone seeking bounties of goodness and provisions, so he could be given (what he requests)?
(14) A group have reported this whose reports are not to be rejected,
But sadly some have went wrong and did not believe them, marring themselves.
Summer Courses 2007 – Masjid al-Furqān – Toronto, Ontario
Translated by Mūsá Richardson
Published: December 15, 2011
Edited: May 13, 2022
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