We covered in a previous article how the defeated, gutter press Jahmee, in his bankruptcy, attempted to use the saying of Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaani (rahimahullaah) regarding the Nuzool (Allaah's descent in a manner that befits His Majesty, without takyeef or tamtheel) and said that "Ibn Hajr does not believe Allaah is in a direction". Thus, he is using the saying of Ibn Hajr as a piece of evidence and as part of his proof. And we explained that Ibn Hajr is from the 8th century after hijrah, and that the bankrupt Jahmee could not find anything from the first few centuries to support his Jahmee beliefs and that Ibn Hajr was affected by something of the ta'weel and Kalaam of the Mutakallimoon, whilst not being upon their usool (foundations) and for this reason, he made ta'weel of the sifaat, as well as using some of the innovated language of the Mutakallimoon in affirming or denying for Allaah, such as jihah and makaan and so on.

And now the Jahmee Baleed has brought - guess who - yes, its Imaam an-Nawawi (rahimahullaah) who died in 676H (7th century) who was also affected by the Mutakallimoon and the madhhab of ta'weel and tafweed.

Here is the Jahmee's article title:

In short whatever can be said here is the same as what was said in the previous article regarding Ibn Hajr (rahimahullaah). He tried to get out of the ditch with that one, and we can simply push him back down again with that same article for most part, which is that the bankrupt Jahmee can't find anything from before the year 300H from any of the Salaf with an authentic isnaad to support this Jahmee belief of his of negating their is a deity above the Throne, with the Throne being a true and real created entity.

The two quotes he brought from an-Nawawi (regarding the attributes in general and of Nuzool as an example in particular) can be summarized as:

• That the way of the Salaf and some of the Mutakallimeen was to affirm that there is a meaning but that they do not know it and to leave it to Allaah, without delving into it - and this is tafweed.

• That the way of the Salaf and some of the Mutakallimeen was to make ta'weel of these texts in accordance with the language and the context of their mention, giving the example of the alleged ta'weels of the descent by the Salaf to His mercy, or command descending.

Regarding the first claim then sufficient is it to render it invalid that it has been reported from a large number of the mufassireen and the people of knowledge of the Salaf that they made tafseer (explained the meaning) of al-istiwaa with "'alaa" and "irtafa'a", meaning rose or ascended over. And this is tafseer of the ma'naa and it is regarding this that Imaam Maalik said that al-istiwaa is "ma'loom (known)" and "ghayr majhool (not unknown)". And sufficient is it that they (the Salaf) declared the Jahmites as kaafirs for denying there is a Lord above the Heaven, and sufficient is it that all the following (by way of example only):

• Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak (d. 181H)
• Abdullah bin Abi Ja'far ar-Razi (d. after 200H)
• Hishaam bin Ubaydullaah ar-Razi (d. 221H)
• Saneed bin Dawud al-Maseesee (d. 226H)
• Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 241H)
• Yahyaa bin Mu'aadh ar-Razi (d. 258H)
• Al-Muzani (d. 264H), the companion of ash-Shafi'i
• Abu Zur'ah ar-Razi (d. 264H)
• Abu Hatim ar-Razi (d. 277H)
• Ibn Abee Shaybah (d. 297H)

Stated that Allaah is above His Throne, ascended over it, "baa'inun min khalqihi" (separate and distinct from His creation) so they clarified and explained and affirmed the true meaning in the texts, which is that Allaah Himself is above the Throne. So this is tafseer of the ma'naa found in the Book and the Sunnah and in invalidates what has been claimed by an-Nawawi (rahimahullaah) - and we can go on with more and more examples but this is just an indication.

And the refutation of the claim that the Salaf made tafweed or ta'weel is a long one and it has its own place and the Scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah have falsified this claim and amongst the Ash'aris they have a conflict between themselves regarding whether tafweed is the way or ta'weel is the way (to protect their intellectual proof) and sufficient is this difference between themselves as a proof for their opposition to the way of the Salaf.

And we will deal with a lot of these issues in separate articles inshaa'Allaah - but we have deliberately not started out with dealing with instances of ta'weel claimed by the Jahmites because in a way that is a decoy. The Jahmites favor keeping the discussion centered around issues of ta'weel and instances of ta'weel because it removes attention from the real foundation of their deen, the nature of the ilm ul-kalaam and what it all springs from historically, which is "hudooth ul-ajsaam", the corrupt, false, intellectual proof devised originally by Jahm bin Safwan (ex. 128H), then developed and refined by Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaaf the Mu'tazili (d. 235H) and then adopted by the Ash'aris after them - and it was on account of this that they distorted much of the creed.