Allaah’s Descending Every Night & The Rebuttal of A Doubt Regarding It

It is at this point that the answer to what was mentioned by Ibn Hazm and others becomes clear regarding the Hadeeth of descending in which the Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said: ((Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when there is but a third of the night left. So He says: ‘Who calls upon Me such that I should answer him? Who asks of Me such that I should give him? Who seeks My forgiveness such that I should forgive him?’ until the appearance of dawn)).* So they said: it is established that the night time differs in relation to the people. So its first part and its middle part and its last third part will be in the east before its first part and its middle part and its last third part in the west. So they said: so if what is meant by the descending is the well known descending; then it necessitates that He be descending at each portion of the night. Since there does not cease to be night somewhere upon the earth. They said: or He does not cease to be descending and ascending - and it is a gathering between two opposites. Indeed this was said by them due to their delusion of His descending in the same way that they are delusional by the descending of one of them – and this is the very essence of At-Tamtheel (likening Allaah). They also went on after that to make Him like one of their feeble selves - for whom it is not possible to gather between the actions as would be possible for someone else not feeble in gathering between them. There have come the Ahaadeeth in which there is the mention that He will reckon His creation on The Day of Judgement. Each of them will see that he is alone with Him and will converse with Him, without seeing that He is alone with other than himself – nor that He is speaking to any other than himself. For indeed the Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said: ((When the servant says: All praise is for Allaah, Lord of all creation, Allaah says: My servant has praised Me. So when he says: The Most-Merciful – The Bestower of Mercy, He says: My servant has made extolment of Me…))** So each and everyone from the people are conversing with Him; and Allaah The Most High replies with that to each of them – whilst there is no situation that busies Him from another situation. It is just as was said to Ibn ‘Abbaas: ‘How will Allaah The Most High reckon the creation in a single hour?’ So he said: ‘Just as He provides them with sustenance in a single hour.’ _________________________ * Reported by Al-Bukhaaree as Hadeeth no. 7494 & 6321 and Muslim as no. 1769 and Aboo Dawood as no. 1315 & 4733 and At-Tirmidhee as no. 3498. ** Reported by Muslim as Hadeeth no. 876 and Ahmad in his Musnad as no. 7836 and Baihaqi in Qiraa’ah khalf Al-Imaam as no.52

Shaykh ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah

Bayaan talbees Al-Jahmiyyah fee ta’sees bid’ihim al-kalaamiyyah vol 2 pages 228-229.

Translated by Aboo Haatim Muhammad Farooq