Saying that Allaah is a thing
Fatwa No: 156629

Question

Can we said that Allah is a THING?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is correct to say that Allaah is a thing but He is not named with this name, because informing about something is more inclusive than its names as stated by the scholars .

Al-Bayhaqi said in "Shu’ab Al-‘Eemaan": “…To proceed, a thing is a characteristic of every existing entity, and Allaah has called himself a thing, as Allaah Says (what means): {Say, “What thing is greatest in testimony?” Say, “Allaah is witness between me and you.}[Quran 6:19] But Allaah has not called Himself a body and the Prophet did not call Him so, neither did the Muslims agree on this; so we cannot name Allaah with a name that He Himself did not name Himself with, and neither did the Prophet name Him with it, nor did the Muslims agree on it [such a name]." Allaah Says (what means): {And to Allaah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.}[Quran 7:180]

What is meant by the statement of Al-Bayhaqi “Allaah has called himself a thing, is that He informed us about Himself (that He is a thing) but that does not mean that the word ‘thing’ is one of the Beautiful Names of Allaah, because it is correct to call any existing entity a thing.

Moreover, Ibn Taymiyyah said in his book “Dar’a Ta’aarudh Al-‘Aql Wan-Naql”: “The difference between the context of addressing someone and the context of informing about someone is a confirmed difference by the Sharee’ah and reason, and hence the difference appears between naming Allaah with the Beautiful Names and informing about Him with the characteristics that are a confirmed truth in order to confirm what Allaah deserves of the perfect characteristics, and deny the deficiencies and imperfections that Allaah is free from, as Allaah is the Al-Malik (i.e. The One with the complete Dominion), Al-Quddoos (i.e. The Holy), and As-Salaam (i.e. The One Who is free from every imperfection.), High Exalted is He above whatever the wrongdoers associate with Him." Allaah Says (what means): {And to Allaah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names.}[Quran 7:180] Allaah also Says (what means): {Say, “What thing is greatest in testimony?” Say, “Allaah is witness between me and you.}[Quran 6:19] And we do not say when supplicating Allaah: “O Thing”

Allaah Knows best.

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