Question:
Assalamu alaykum.
I learned that asharis say the sifat afal are haadith and not ascribed to god’s dhat. I follow maturidi aqidah and I do not understand how this ashari view is not a denial of some of god’s attributes. Could you please clarify this to me?
Answer:
Waalaykumussalam warahmatullah.
You have oversimplified what Ash`aris say and you have ended up calling them what the people of innovation call them.
The Ash`ari understanding is that I. the Divine acts are qadim (without beginning) in their salūhiyya (potentiality). It is in that sense that Allah is called al-Khāliq even when there is no makhlūq; al-Razzāq even when there is no marzūq; al-Rabb even when there is no marbūb etc.
At the same time II. the Divine acts are also hādith (originated) in their ta`alluq (linkage, appurtenance) and their tanjīz (implementation). Certainly nothing that is originated can be ascribed to the Dhāt. That is precisely why they are called sifāt af`āl.
Thus His istiwā‘ to the sky and his istiwā‘ over the Throne, for example, are salūhī qadīm acts at the same time as they are tanjīzī hādith. To claim otherwise is to claim that the sky and the Throne existed without beginning together with Allah, which is shirk.
And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
