💠Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man ibn Thabit al-Kufi (rahimahullah)
4️⃣ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows, but not as we know; He has power, but not as we have power; He sees, but not as we see; He hears, but not as we hear; and He speaks, but not as we speak.
❖❐ We speak by means of the speech organs and sounds, whereas Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) speaks with neither organs nor sounds. Sounds are created, and the word of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) is uncreated. He is a thing, but unlike other things; by saying "thing," we intend merely to affirm His reality.
❖❐ He has neither body nor substance, neither accidental property nor limit, neither opposite nor like nor similitude. He has a hand, a face, and a self (nafs); the mention that Allah most High has made of these in the Qur'an has the sense that these are among His attributes, and no question can be raised concerning their modality (bila kayf).
❖❐ It cannot be said that His hand represents His power of His bestowal of bounty, because such an interpretation would require a negation of an attribute. This is the path taken by the Qadarites and the Mu'tazilites (two theological sects in early Islam that deviated from the path of Ahlus'-Sunnah) Rather, His hand is an attribute, of unknowable modality, in the same way that His anger and pleasure are two attributes of unknowable modality Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created things out of nothing, and He had knowledge of them in pre-eternity, before their creation.
5️⃣ He it is Who determined and predestined all things. Nothing exists in this world or hereafter except by His will, His knowledge, His determining and predestining, and except it be written on the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz). He inscribed everything there in the sense of description, not that of foreordaining. Determining, predestining and will are pre-eternal attributes of unknowable modality.
❖❐ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the non-existent, while in its state of non-existence, to be non-existent, and He knows too how it will be when He brings it forth into being. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the existent, while in its state of existence, to be existent, and He knows too how will be its evanescence.
❖❐ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the one who is standing, and when he sits then Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows him to be sitting, without any change being produced thereby in Allah's knowledge, or any new knowledge accruing to Him. For change and alteration occur only in created beings.
6️⃣ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created creation free of both belief and unbelief, and then He addressed His creation with commands and prohibitions. Some men disbelieved through active denial and rejection of the truth by virtue of being abandoned by Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala).
❖❐ Others believed through active assent and affirmation, by virtue of the succor of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) . He brought forth the progeny of Adam (alayhi wa sallam) from his loins in the form of particles, and appointed for them an intelligence.
❖❐ He (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) then addressed them and commanded them unto belief and forbade them disbelief. They assented to His dominicality, this being a form of belief appropriate to them, and thus it is that they are born in the possession of a primordial nature disposed to belief.
❖❐ Whoever disbelieves thereafter is therefore changing and altering that primordial nature, and whoever believes and assents is conforming and strengthening it. None of His creation has been constrained either to disbelieve or to believe; Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created men not as believers or non-believers, but rather as persons.
❖❐ Belief and disbelief are acts of Allah's worshipers. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the unbeliever, in his state of unbelief, to be an unbeliever, and if he thereafter becomes a believer, then Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows him to be a believer in a state of belief, without any change occurring thereby in His knowledge or attributes.
💠Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man ibn Thabit al-Kufi (rahimahullah)
4️⃣ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows, but not as we know; He has power, but not as we have power; He sees, but not as we see; He hears, but not as we hear; and He speaks, but not as we speak.
❖❐ We speak by means of the speech organs and sounds, whereas Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) speaks with neither organs nor sounds. Sounds are created, and the word of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) is uncreated. He is a thing, but unlike other things; by saying "thing," we intend merely to affirm His reality.
❖❐ He has neither body nor substance, neither accidental property nor limit, neither opposite nor like nor similitude. He has a hand, a face, and a self (nafs); the mention that Allah most High has made of these in the Qur'an has the sense that these are among His attributes, and no question can be raised concerning their modality (bila kayf).
❖❐ It cannot be said that His hand represents His power of His bestowal of bounty, because such an interpretation would require a negation of an attribute. This is the path taken by the Qadarites and the Mu'tazilites (two theological sects in early Islam that deviated from the path of Ahlus'-Sunnah) Rather, His hand is an attribute, of unknowable modality, in the same way that His anger and pleasure are two attributes of unknowable modality Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created things out of nothing, and He had knowledge of them in pre-eternity, before their creation.
5️⃣ He it is Who determined and predestined all things. Nothing exists in this world or hereafter except by His will, His knowledge, His determining and predestining, and except it be written on the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz). He inscribed everything there in the sense of description, not that of foreordaining. Determining, predestining and will are pre-eternal attributes of unknowable modality.
❖❐ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the non-existent, while in its state of non-existence, to be non-existent, and He knows too how it will be when He brings it forth into being. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the existent, while in its state of existence, to be existent, and He knows too how will be its evanescence.
❖❐ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the one who is standing, and when he sits then Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows him to be sitting, without any change being produced thereby in Allah's knowledge, or any new knowledge accruing to Him. For change and alteration occur only in created beings.
6️⃣ Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created creation free of both belief and unbelief, and then He addressed His creation with commands and prohibitions. Some men disbelieved through active denial and rejection of the truth by virtue of being abandoned by Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala).
❖❐ Others believed through active assent and affirmation, by virtue of the succor of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) . He brought forth the progeny of Adam (alayhi wa sallam) from his loins in the form of particles, and appointed for them an intelligence.
❖❐ He (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) then addressed them and commanded them unto belief and forbade them disbelief. They assented to His dominicality, this being a form of belief appropriate to them, and thus it is that they are born in the possession of a primordial nature disposed to belief.
❖❐ Whoever disbelieves thereafter is therefore changing and altering that primordial nature, and whoever believes and assents is conforming and strengthening it. None of His creation has been constrained either to disbelieve or to believe; Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) created men not as believers or non-believers, but rather as persons.
❖❐ Belief and disbelief are acts of Allah's worshipers. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows the unbeliever, in his state of unbelief, to be an unbeliever, and if he thereafter becomes a believer, then Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) knows him to be a believer in a state of belief, without any change occurring thereby in His knowledge or attributes.
