Questions about shia-ism

I believe Allah swt can not be described by direction, is not above anywhere. I believe he has no form, nor confine, nor limited contingency to be envisioned by my senses. I believe Allah swt is above change, and therefore can not 'ascend' or 'descend'. I believe that the essence of Tawheed neccessitates that he is one by his essence, in the sense non-divisible. He can not have hands, feet, etc even if i affirm they are not like our own.

This is why i have named myself Tawheed. For i found the most satisfying and logical appreciation of Tawheed as taught by the Muhammed s.a.w family of Muhammed a.s

I also do respect noble Sahaba, but i do not see them as one body. They differ in ranks. My judgement on a companion is purely based on their obidience to Allah swt, Rasullah s.a.w, and the family of the holy prophet s.a.w and other loyal sahaba r.a. Our historical sources differ , and so our views on shaba differ. Let us agree to disagree.

Salam

The sunni belief is that Allah (SWT) is above the heavens and descends to the lowest heaven every night, when one-third of the night is left.

It was narrated by al-Bukhaari and by Muslim from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the night remains and says: ‘Who will call upon Me, that I may answer Him? Who will ask of Me, that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”

We also believe that Allah has two feet, hands etc. however they do not resemble the normal human attributes but rather they are in a form which only befits Allah (SWT).

[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. [Quran 42:11]

I've put some ayats and hadith for evidence in the spoiler

uwotm8
what do you think angels are for?

Also Allah has two hands and feet and a body now? Are you okay? Does He only absorb/ reflect UV radiation now is that why we don't see His body? Astaghfirullah...
Do you think if someone says they "ruled with an iron fist" it means they actually have hands made of iron? Ever heard of metaphors? My God...

True brother. It is ashamed we are using words like sunni, shia, sufi etc to describe ourselves. Imagine what the prophet S.A.W would be thinking if he was here. It really is sad.

One thing I don't understand, Islam was complete in the time of the prophet S.A.W and he completed his prophethood. Then why all these additions after him, is it necesaary to look into it so deeply?

Yes Islamqa are stricter than most other websites.
But just because they may be strict or even wrong with one issue, it's unwise of you to completely dismiss everything else they may say.

No brother, I must disagree here. Names are that by which we define ourselves. Yes, we shouldn't seek to further divide the Ummah, but where names and descriptions are used to distinguish between mutually exclusive beliefs, I don't see this as problematic. How else would we distinguish between, for example, the majority of Muslims and the Mu'tazila or the Ahmadiya?

I have to admit you are right. But still I see, is Islam as one. And do not like any other names to be on me than a Muslim. Simple as that. I know I am in a dream world lol as there are already divisions etc. But I just follow what is right and the Islam way with no bid'ah. Now with sunni beliefs I actually have no problem actually out of all the sects I know now. But I don't want to be called Sunni. I don't know how to explain this. The struggles lol.

This is an inappropriate manner of discussion when you are delving into matters relating to Allah. Especially as a Muslim. From some of your posts on this thread, imho, perhaps it is better to avoid discussions of difference of opinion when we are so opposed to anything other than what we believe.

If you read my other posts you'd see that I apologised kk?

In that case, I offer my sincere apologies

From this post, you seem to suggest a dichotomy: either one believes in Allah's transcendence beyond all things or is a Sunni. If this is what you propose, this dichotomy is false. There are varying approaches to this matter within ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, which all (if correctly followed up) affirm that Allah is beyond confinement to physical dimensions. This is key in the 'aqeedah (creed) of all Sunnis. The difference of approach lies in matters regarding tafweed.

I mentioned the above because I am unsure as to whether you have a misconception regarding Sunni 'aqa'id (doctrines), rather than with the intention of debate.
.

Salam

The sunni belief is that Allah (SWT) is above the heavens and descends to the lowest heaven every night, when one-third of the night is left.

It was narrated by al-Bukhaari and by Muslim from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the night remains and says: ‘Who will call upon Me, that I may answer Him? Who will ask of Me, that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”

Salamunalaykum brother,

I have had extensive discussions on this issue with brothers from varying schools of thought on the issue within the ahlus-sunnah. From the salafi-types to the more hanafi-types. On youtube, in debates, in articles and books, you will find groups even within the ahlus-sunnah having very big disagreements on how to intepret the attributes of Allah swt.

I acknowledge that even people like Ibn Taymiyyah considered Allah swt to be transcendent , and not like his creation.

The issue is, on one hand, we all affirm Tawheed, the transcendence of Allah swt, but then, we run into some issues, due to hadiths as well as varying intepretation of them.

Here are a few of my points of contention:

You see, some people have intepreted the Quran mentioning the 'hands' of Allah to be literal attributes of his, whereas it is very common allegory to use 'right hand' , or to use 'with my own two hands' , or 'both his hands are outstretched', and you can tell from the verses these are metaphorical. Similarly, when Allah swt everything will perish save his face, it does not mean he has a literal face, but not like ours. Because if everything will perish , save his face, what of his hands, feet, shin and so on? I have seen brothers therefore state the verse is allegorical, Allah swt does not have a face, which brings into contention the inconsistency between saying one must take the verse at face value, and realizing it runs one into problems and intepreting them allegorically.

As you can see, many times in the Quran do we see allegory:

Quran: "The hand of Allah is over their hands."

Quran: "Indeed, Allah holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease. And if they should cease, no one could hold them [in place] after Him. Indeed, He is Forbearing and Forgiving."

Furthermore, by virtue of the essence of Tawheed, Allah is absolute, he can not be divided, he is Allah, and is one of essence. Therefore one can not say, Allah is one, but he has hands, shin, feet, fingers (yes , this is also said ), his hands are different from his shins, his feet are different from his hands, because that would contradict his absolute oneness. The creation are divisible by essence. The angels have wings, and constituent subunits.

I must make this clear, even if one states, the hands, shin, fingers, feet of Allah swt are not like human hands, shins, feet, this is still dividing Allah swt into constituent sub-units, and therby detracting from his absolute oneness.

Furthermore, one can say, 'I worship the hands of Allah', because technically, that is still the 'essence' of Allah swt. Or i worship another divisible part of him, his shin.

I have many other points on this issue, but for sake of berevity and to let you answer , i've kept this very short.

Haha, I know what you mean bro. In this way, that's a good mindset to have. The way I tend to explain it usually is that to assign yourself a name for the sake of splitting from the Muslims and become further divided is not what I agree with, but in terms of categorising yourself in a group for purposes of identification (eg. the fiqh that one follows, dissociating from groups with incorrect aqeedah, etc.) and distinguishing from that which is incorrect is different. So I would say that I am a Sunni in order to define that I am not a Shi'a, or an Ahmadi, etc. - not because I'm seeking a label.

I hope that makes sense

Ahaha it is funny as you think I am a brother.
I agree with all you said brother. Thanks Atleast you appreciate my mindset. Whenever I say this to anyone....they jump to conclusions of converting me to their sect as if they have grabbed an easy opportunity looool. Then they start labeling me as sunni, shia etc. And I am just there like M-U-S-L-I-M spells Muslim.

Ok on serious note, I accept being called Sunni then if I am going to have a label. The only one I can approve of. Basically as long its beliefs match the Qu'ran and the authentic hadiths. And basically no bid'ah.

Oh, my apologies, sister

It's something some people refer to as 'saved sect syndrome'
If you try to stick to what is correct, you may well find yourself to align with particular groups in terms of having similarities. But of course, that then means that you are more likely to seek benefit from their scholars as opposed to joining the sectarian mindset and shunning every other group of scholars. We take the good and leave the bad.

There are theological differences but we share the base belief in Allah and his messenger, fast, hajj..etc

That would also cover Ahmadi Muslims too.

No problem brother, I have always wanted to be a brother ahaha jks.

Yeah true brother, that is what my aim is all the time to stick to the Sunnah and leave what is bad in shaa Allah. I am not that vulnerable, and can figure it out if it opposes the Sunnah or Qu'ran.

I mean not everything about the shia sect is wrong, like some things I also approve of, but I can never come to accepting it entirely. This is because of some of its fundamental beliefs.

May Allah keep us all on the straight true path. Ameen.

Wait, what?? How can they be sinless are they not humans....they are not even prophets soo why?

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