A Clarification Exonerating the Two Ḥāfiẓs – al-Nawawī and Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī – from the Beliefs of the Ashʿarīs

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ibn Ḥamad al-ʿAbbād al-Badr (b. 1353 AH / 1934 CE), may Allah preserve him, authored this article in order to clearly demonstrate the false and unfounded attribution of Imām Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE) and al-Ḥāfiẓ Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH / 1449 CE) to the theological schools of kalām rhetoric, specifically the Ashʿarī school and others akin to it.

The Shaykh discovered a work authored by Imām al-Nawawī entitled Juzʾ fīhi Dhikr Iʿtiqād al-Salaf fī al-Ḥurūf wa al-Aṣwāt, in which al-Nawawī explicitly states that he completed its composition on Thursday, the third of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 676 AH, less than five months prior to his death. This is of particular importance, as it reflects the settled and final doctrinal position of the Imām. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād stated:

The Creed of al-Nawawī

Then al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy upon him, concluded what he transmitted from Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Armawī, may Allah have mercy upon him, with an excellent chapter (pp. 80–82), in which he mentioned the creed of the Salaf regarding the Divine Attributes.

He wrote: “Chapter: Concerning the prophetic traditions which emphasise this creed and support it in affirming the perfection of the Attributes of Allah. This was the belief of the Imāms of Islām. May Allah gather us with them upon their belief, cause us to die while loving the righteous predecessors and the rightly guided Imāms, and may Allah be pleased with them all.”

Al-Nawawī then stated:

• We believe in all the prophetic traditions concerning the Attributes. We neither add anything to them nor omit anything from them.
• Such as the ḥadīth concerning the Dajjāl, wherein he ﷺ said: “Your Lord is not one-eyed.”
• And the ḥadīth of Allah’s descent to the lowest heaven.
• And the ḥadīth of Allah’s rising over the Throne.
• And the ḥadīth stating that the hearts are between two Fingers of Allah.
• And the ḥadīth that He places the heavens upon one Finger and the earths upon one Finger.
• Likewise, we believe in the ḥadīth of the Miʿrāj and whatever has been authentically reported concerning it.
• We also believe that Allah turns the hearts, along with every narration similar to these narrations. We believe in them exactly as they have been reported, without interpreting their modality. We believe in them as they have come.
• We believe that īmān consists of statements and actions. It increases with obedience and decreases with sin.
• We affirm that Allah will come on the Day of Standing, just as He, Exalted is He, said: “And your Lord will come, and the angels, row upon row.”
• We believe that Allah draws near to His servants however He wills, as stated in His saying:  “And We are closer to him than his jugular vein.” And His saying: And whatever resembles these verses concerning the Attributes. We do not delve into how they are, nor do we engage in improper speculation. Rather, we suffice with the stance of the righteous predecessors.
• We believe that Allah is above His Throne, as He has stated in His Mighty Book. We do not say that He is everywhere. Rather, He is above the heavens, and His knowledge encompasses every place, and no place is devoid of it. And as has been authentically reported in the ḥadīth of the Prophet’s night journey to the seventh heaven, wherein it is stated that he came close to his Lord. And as has been reported in the ḥadīth concerning the slave woman whom the Prophet ﷺ asked, “Where is your Lord?” She replied, “Above the heavens.” So he said, “Free her, for she is a believer.”
• There is much in the Book and the Sunnah similar to this. We believe in all of it and do not reject anything from it. It has been authentically reported that Mālik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH / 795 CE) said, when asked about the statement of Allah, Exalted is He: “Rising is not unknown, its modality is incomprehensible, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation.”

The Creed of al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī

As for al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, may Allah have mercy upon him, evidence of the soundness of his creed is found in the conclusion of his monumental commentary Fatḥ al-Bārī fī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Therein, he transmitted statements of the Salaf regarding the Divine Attributes which affirm them without takyīf (detailing their modality) or tashbīh (resemblance), while simultaneously affirming tanzīh (declaring Allah free of imperfection) without taʾwīl (figurative reinterpretation) or taʿṭīl (negation).

At the end of his commentary on the chapter concerning the statement of Allah, Exalted is He:

يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ

Ibn Ḥajar cited the words of Abū al-Muẓaffar ibn al-Samʿānī (d. 489 AH / 1096 CE). He stated that Ibn al-Samʿānī used these verses and ḥadīths to demonstrate the error of the speculative theologians who adopted kalām methodology by categorising existence into jism, jawhar, and ʿaraḍ.

They relied upon speculative reasoning and then subjected the revealed texts to it, accepting what conformed to their conjecture and rejecting what opposed it. Yet Allah commanded His Messenger ﷺ to convey the revelation in its entirety, particularly the matter of pure tawḥīd, which is the foundation of the religion. The Messenger ﷺ conveyed every fundamental and subsidiary matter without resorting to philosophical terminology. Neither he nor any of his Companions ever employed such language.

Thus, this path of speculative theology constitutes an innovation unknown to the Messenger ﷺ and his Companions, and it necessarily entails criticism of the Salaf and the attribution of ignorance and doubt to them. Ibn al-Samʿānī therefore warned sternly against engaging with or showing interest in such discourse.

Likewise, Ibn Ḥajar transmitted in Fatḥ al-Bārī (13:407–408) statements from a group of the Salaf affirming the Attributes without tashbīh, taḥrīf, or taʿṭīl. He concluded with his own decisive remarks, citing al-Bayhaqī, who narrated from Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī that Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161 AH / 778 CE), Shuʿbah ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 160 AH / 776 CE), Ḥammād ibn Zayd (d. 179 AH / 795 CE), Ḥammād ibn Salamah (d. 167 AH / 784 CE), Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allah (d. 177 AH / 793 CE), and Abū ʿAwānah (d. 176 AH / 792 CE) all narrated the ḥadīths of the Attributes without delving into their modality or resembling them to creation.

Abū Dāwūd said: “This is our belief.” Al-Bayhaqī commented: “This is the creed of our senior scholars.”

Al-Lālikāʾī further transmitted with his chain of narration from Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (d. 189 AH / 805 CE), who stated: “The jurists of Islām, from the East to the West, are unanimously agreed upon belief in the Qurʾān and in the prophetic traditions transmitted by trustworthy narrators regarding the Attributes of the Lord, without resembling them to creation or explaining their modality. Whoever explains their modality and adopts the belief of Jahm ibn Ṣafwān has departed from what the Messenger ﷺ and his Companions were upon and has separated from the main body of the Muslims, because he described the Lord with the attributes of a non-entity.” 

Reference

al-ʿAbbād al-Badr, ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ibn Ḥamad.
A Clarification Exonerating al-Nawawī and Ibn Ḥajar from the Beliefs of the People of Kalām.
Riyadh: Dār al-Tawḥīd, n.d.
Citations from:

• al-Nawawī, Juzʾ fīhi Dhikr Iʿtiqād al-Salaf fī al-Ḥurūf wa al-Aṣwāt.

• Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī fī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, vol. 13. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿrifah, 1379 AH.