Ibnu Taymiyyah’s blasphemous assertion of hadd to Allah

والصَّلَاةُ والسَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ أَشْرَفِ اْلمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الطَّيّبِيْنَ الطَّاهِرِيْن

In the book written by Imam at-Tahawiyyyy [‘Ahmad ‘Ibnu Salamah at-Tahawiyy is a great Imam of the Salaf (229 – 321 A.H.).] which he called: “Mentioning the belief of ‘Ahlu s-Sunnah wa l-Jama^ah, according to the madh-hab of the fuqaha’ (scholars) of Islam, ‘Abu Hanifah an-Nu^man ‘Ibnu Thabit al-Kufiyy , ‘Abu Yusuf Ya^qub‘Ibnu ‘Ibrahim al-‘Ansariyy, and ‘Ab u ^Abdi l-Lah Muhammad ‘Ibnu l-Hasan ash-Shaybaniyy ” his two companions and others, Imam at-Tahawiyy negated the hadd about Allah by saying what means: He (Allah) is majestically above (He does not have) the hudud (plural of hadd) and ghayat (extensions in area, for example).

‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah confirmed attributing the hadd to Allah in his book “al-muwafaqah”, Volume 2, page 33. He said: The Muslims and non-Muslims agreed that Allah is in the sky and they limited Him to this. On page 29, he said: He (Allah) does not have a hadd we know, but He has a hadd that He knows. What he claimed that both Muslims and non-Muslims agreed and had consensus that Allah has a hadd is strange.

The negation of the hadd about Allah have been confirmed in reports by ‘Abu Hanifah , others, and even those before him, namely Imam Zaynu l-^Abidin ‘^Aliyy ‘Ibnu l-Husayn, radiya l-Lahu ^anhuma [ radiya l-Lahu ^anhuma means: May Allah accept their deeds both (here, Zaynu l-^Abidin ‘^Aliyy and his father al-Husayn).] in his treatise famously known as “As-sahifatu s-sajjadiyyah”. In “Sharhu ‘Ihya’i ^Ulumi d-Din”, Muhaddith , Hafidh MuhammadMurta da az-Zabidiyy, the explainer of “al-Qamus”, mentioned with a muttasil isnad (continuous chain of qualified relators) [A muttasil hadith is the hadith heard by the relator from his shaykh and so on back to the Prophet or a Companion without any interruption in the chain of relators.] from him back to Zaynu l-^Abidin the saying of Zaynu l-^Abidin in his treatise: He (Allah) is not limited to have a hadd (limit). He also mentioned his saying: No place surrounds Him. The saying of ^Aliyy, radiya l-Lahu ^anhu: “not limited” is explicit that it is not consonent with Allah to be limited; He does not have a hadd, neither according to His knowledge nor to the knowledge of the creation.

Where is what ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah claimed of the agreement of the Muslims upon attributing the hadd to Allah? The rest of the Salaf were negating the hadd about Allah, evidenced by the aforementioned saying of at-Tahawiyyyy . He mentioned this as the madh-hab of the Salaf; those four [The four great Salaf scholars mentioned above are: ‘Abu Hanifah an-Nu^man ‘Ibnu Thabit al-Kufiyy, ‘Abu Yusuf Ya^qub ‘Ibnu ‘Ibrahim al-‘Ansariyy, ‘Ab u ^Abdi l-Lah Muhammad ‘Ibnu l-Hasan ash-Shaybaniyy , Zaynu l-^Abidin ^Aliyy ‘Ibnu l-Husayn.] are among the famous scholars of the Salaf. This is the madh-hab of all the Salaf as indicated by his sayings: “Mentioning the belief of ‘Ahlu s-Sunnah wa l-Jama^ah”.

The deceipt of ‘ Ibnu Taymiyyah has shown up and is exposed. This is his habit. He attributes the belief that he likes to the scholars of the Salaf to delude the weak-minded people that his madh-hab is that of the Salaf. This is far from what he thinks.