.:Creed of Imām Abū Hanīfah regarding Allāh:.
1. Imām al-Aáżam Abū Ĥanīfah al-Númān ibn al-Thābit al-Kūfī [70-150 AH / 689-767 CE] states in Fiqh al-Akbar:
“Allāh táālā shall be seen in the Hereafter, and the believers shall see Him while they are in Paradise,
with the eyes of their heads, without similitude or modality, and there shall not be any distance between Him and His creation.”
Commenting on this, Abu’l Muntahā Shihābuddīn Aĥmad ibn Muĥammad al-Maghnīsāwī [d. 1000 AH / 1592 CE] writes:
“Musāfah in the language means distance, and the intention of it here is direction and place.”
Thus we see he negated place and direction for Allāh.
2. He states in Kitāb al-Waşiyyah:
“The meeting of Allāh táālā with the inhabitants of Paradise is a reality, without modality, similitude and nor direction.”
Here we observe explicit negation of direction for Allāh by the Imām.
3. He says in the same book:
“We affirm that Allāh táālā did Istiwā'a on the Throne without there being any need for Him or settledness [istiqrār]. He is the Keeper of the Throne and of other than the Throne, without any need.
If He was in need then He would not have been able to bring the world into existence or arrange it, as the two creations [are unable].
If He was in need of sitting [julūs] and settling [qarār] [on the Throne], then where was Allāh before the creation of the Throne?
Allāh is exalted beyond that with a great exaltedness.”
We see here that the Imām affirms Istiwā'a whilst negating need for it, settling upon the Throne, and sitting upon it. He also negates that the Throne is the place of Allāh.
4. He states in Fiqh al-Absaţ:
“The one who states, ‘I do not know if Allāh is in the heaven or on the earth’, has committed kufr.”
The reason why is explained by Abu’l Layth Naşr ibn Muĥammad al-Samarqandī [d. 375 AH / 985 CE] in his commentary.
He writes:
“Because, by this statement he assumes that He has a place, thus he became a mushrik.”
The Imām continues:
“Likewise is the one who states, ‘He is on the Throne but I do not know if the Throne is in the heaven or on the earth.’”
Abu’l Layth al-Samarqandī comments on this writing:
“In reality, this returns to the first meaning, because when he stated,
‘I do not know if the Throne is in the heaven or on the earth’, then it is as if he stated, ‘I do not know if Allāh táālā is in the heaven or on the earth.’”
Therefore, it can be understood that the reason why the Imām declared both of these expressions to be kufr,
is because they both intend to ascribe a place to Allāh. This is supported by what is mentioned in the following quote.
5. He was asked further in Fiqh al-Absaţ:
“What is your opinion, if it is asked, ‘Where is Allāh táālā?’”
He replied:
“It is said unto him, Allah existed and there was no place before He created the creation, and Allāh táālā existed and there was no ‘where’, no creation, nor anything, and He is the Creator of all things.”
This makes clear beyond doubt that the Imām did not consider Allāh to be located in any place; neither on the Throne nor in any other place.
This is clear from his declaring ‘where’, i.e. place, to be a creation, and by doing so He negated it for Allāh.
6. Imām Abū Jaáfar al-Ţaĥāwī al-Ĥanafī [239-321 AH / 843-933 CE] writes in his Áqīdah:
“This is a mention of the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l Jamāáh, upon the methodology of the jurists of the religion: Abū Ĥanīfah al-Númān ibn al-Thābit al-Kūfī,
Abū Yūsuf Yáqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Anśārī, and Abū Ábdullāh Muĥammad ibn al-Ĥasan al-Shaybānī, and what they believed from the foundations of the religion, and professed as their religion for the Lord of the Worlds.”
Thus, what is mentioned in this text is the creed of the Imām.
It must be remembered that Imām Ţaĥāwī was a student of the direct student of the two main students of the Imām, and so there is no doubt in the authenticity of what is mentioned in the text.
In this he writes:
“Exalted is Allāh ázza wa jall from limits, extremes, corners, limbs and instruments. The six directions do not contain Him, as with all created things.”
Thus, if it is said Allāh is located on the Throne, then it would result in saying He has a limit,
and that He is in the upwards direction. Therefore, such a belief would contradict what is authentically narrated from the Imām and his students.
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