Hanbali school

And then depending on which you adopt or how you manage those apparent contradictions, there's further definition or understanding that scholars will utilize to try and understand this miraculous event during this night journey.

Within the Hanbali school, the predominant position is transmitted by the great Imams indicated by Imam Ahmad is that the Prophet did see his Lord with his blessed eyes while awake on that night.

And this was the position held by the companions who specialized in tafsir, possessing deep knowledge, particularly Ibn Abbas, along with Anas, Ikrimah al-Hasan al-Basri, Muhammad ibn Ka'b, and others.

And there's numerous textual evidence or textual basis for this affirmation.

Ibn Abbas is saying no, and there's more than one narration from Ibn Abbas that he saw Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and then this one, From Aisha, no, if you're claiming that, you're lying.

So there seems to be a contradiction.

But the scholars, not just in the Hanbali school, but other scholars, the great imams, explain that they're not actually in conflict with one another when you properly understand.

And there's a reconciliation process by which we approach these hadith.

Again, Surah Al-Imran.

So this verse became foundational within the Hanbali theological framework.

It established that the Quran has two categories of verses as clearly stated.

That which is clear and that which is ambiguous or unclear.

It's iqraat, it's ithbat.

Here we're just affirming and we're confirming that the mutashabih, that which is ambiguous, are from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Again, his conclusion is not isolated, but it's shared across the great scholars of the Hanbali school.

So Imam Al-Qadi Abu Yal is not the only one.

We're going to look at how the Hanbalis approached the attributes, in particular that of Al-Nuzul as well as the attribute of Saqq.

And so we'll try and extract a set of comprehensive principles from this that will define the Hanbali methodology in understanding Allah's attributes.

And then after that, we will briefly survey several early sects that deviated in this regard, clarifying where their approaches diverged from sound creed.

And then we will hopefully touch upon rulings on designating names and attributes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Instead, we simply affirm the wording as it is, and then we traverse over that word, and we basically just pass over it.

Let's take a look at some other great imams.

This is gonna give us just a synopsis, if you will, of how this looks across the various different phases of the Hanbali development, right? So we looked at Imam Ahmad and Al-Qadhi Abu Ya'la was quoting another citation from Imam Ahmad.

Imam Ahmad passed away in 241, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, 241.

The confession of the Muslim's faith is briefly made in these words, there is no deity but God, Muhammad is God's apostle, which imply a belief and observance of everything that Muhammad taught to be the word or will of God.

in the opinion of those who are commonly called orthodox and termed sunnis the mohammedan code is founded upon the koran the traditions of the prophet the concordance of his principal early disciples and the decisions which have been framed from analogy or comparison The Sunnis consist of four sects, Hanafis, Shafiris, Malikis, and Hanbalis, so-called after the names of their respective founders.

The other sects, who are called Shiais, an appellation particularly given to the Persian sect, but also used to designate generally all who are not Sunnis, are regarded in nearly the same light as those who do not profess al-Islam, the Muhammadan faith, that is, as destined to eternal punishment.

The Muhammadan faith embraces the following points.

It's wajib.

Whether you're a Hanafi, Jafari, Maliki, Hanbali, this is wajib.

It's not something, oh, this is not my way.

No, this is wajib.