Meaning of Istiwa: Ahl al-Sunnah Understanding from Salaf

This excerpt is taken from the book “Where Is Allah?” by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī.

The Meaning of Istiwāʾ​

Allah Almighty says:

الرحمن على العرش استوى.
(طه: 5)

“The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.”

Allah Almighty also says:

ثم استوى على العرش.
(الأعراف: 54، يونس: 3، الرعد: 2، الفرقان: 59، السجدة: 4، الحديد: 4)

“Then He rose over the Throne.”

The righteous Salaf and the Imams of the religion explained the meaning of these clear verses as: “He rose high over the Throne.” For example:

Statements of the Salaf and the Imams​

① ʿAllāmah Ibn Baṭṭāl رحمه الله (449 AH)​

أما قول من قال: علا، فهو صحيح، وهو مذهب أهل السنة والحق.

“As for the statement of those who said: ‘He rose high,’ it is correct, and it is the madhhab of Ahl al-Sunnah and the people of truth.”

Reference: Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 20/92

② Imām Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī رحمه الله (310 AH)​

الرحمن على عرشه ارتفع وعلا.

“Allah rose high over His Throne and ascended.”

Reference: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī: 23/169

Reference: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī: 18/270

③ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله (774 AH)​

He writes regarding Allah’s statement:

ثم استوى على العرش

“People have many statements regarding this, and this is not the place to expand on them. Rather, in this matter one follows the path of the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ: Mālik, al-Awzāʿī, al-Thawrī, al-Layth ibn Saʿd, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and others from among the Imams—past and present—namely: passing the texts as they have come, without asking how, without resemblance, and without negation. The meaning that occurs to the minds of those who resemble (Allah to creation) is denied for Allah, for nothing of His creation resembles Him. Allah says:

ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير
(الشورى: 11)

“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

Rather, it is as the Imams said, including Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād (the Shaykh of al-Bukhārī): Whoever resembles Allah to His creation has disbelieved, and whoever denies what Allah has described Himself with has disbelieved. There is no resemblance in what Allah described Himself with, nor what His Messenger ﷺ described Him with. Thus, whoever affirms for Allah what is established by clear verses and authentic reports in the manner befitting His Majesty, and negates deficiencies from Him, has followed the path of guidance.”

Reference: Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr: 3/426–427

And the verse:

ليس كمثله شيء وهو السميع البصير
(الشورى: 11)

“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

④ Imām Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله (463 AH)​

He said:

فيه دليل على أن الله عز وجل في السماء على العرش من فوق سبع سماوات كما قالت الجماعة... والدليل على صحة ما قالوه أهل الحق في ذلك قول الله عز وجل: (الرحمٰن على العرش استوى)

“In it is evidence that Allah عز وجل is above the heavens, over the Throne, above the seven heavens, as the جماعت (Ahl al-Sunnah) say. This is among their proofs against the Muʿtazilah and Jahmiyyah in their statement that Allah is in every place and not over the Throne. The proof of the people of truth is Allah’s statement: ‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.’”

Reference: al-Tamhīd: 7/129

⑤ Imām Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd رحمه الله (as transmitted by Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim)​

هذا قول الأئمة المأخوذ في الإسلام والسنة، يعرف الله في السماء السابعة على عرشه كما قال: (الرحن على العرش استوى)

“This is the statement of the Imams taken from Islam and the Sunnah: Allah is known to be above the seventh heaven upon His Throne, as He said: ‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.’”

Reference: Shiʿār Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth: 12

(chain ṣaḥīḥ)

A Claimed Interpretation​

Some have written:

“Our later Imams have made correct and linguistically and legally permissible interpretations of these verses so that those of limited understanding may comprehend—for example, that istiwāʾ could mean domination, and hand could mean power. This, according to us, is also truth.”

Reference: al-Muhannad ʿalā al-Mufannad: 48

However, these interpretations are not correct. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله invalidated them through twelve approaches, and ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله invalidated them through forty-two methods.

Statements of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله​

أهل السنة وسلف الأمة متفقون على أن من تأول استوى بمعنى استولى، أو بمعنى آخر، ينفي أن يكون الله فوق سماواته، فهو جهمي ضال.

“Ahl al-Sunnah and the Salaf of the Ummah are agreed that whoever interprets istawā as istawlà (dominated), or with another meaning that negates Allah being above His heavens, is a misguided Jahmī.”

Reference: al-Tisʿīniyyah: 2/545

He further said:

اتفق المسلمون على أن يقال: استوى على العرش، ولا يقال: استولى على هذه الأشياء.

“The Muslims are agreed that it is said: ‘He rose over the Throne,’ and it is not said: ‘He dominated these things.’”

Reference: Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā: 5/145

He also said:

فسروا الإستواء بما يتضمن الإرتفاع فوق سماواته.

“Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah explained istiwāʾ with what includes rising above His heavens.”

Reference: Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā: 16/359

Statements of ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله​

إن ظاهر الاستواء وحقيقته هو العلو والارتفاع كما نص عليه جميع أهل اللغة والتفسير المقبول.

“The apparent and real meaning of istiwāʾ is exaltedness and rising, as all the people of language and accepted tafsīr have explicitly stated.”

Reference: Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Mursalah: 2/145

He also wrote:

إن لفظ الاستواء في كلام العرب... نوعان: مطلق ومقيد... هذه معاني الاستواء المعقولة في كلامهم.

“In the Arabic speech by which Allah addressed us and revealed His كلام, the term istiwāʾ is of two types: unrestricted and restricted… These are the comprehensible meanings of istiwāʾ in their speech.”

Reference: Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Mursalah: 2/126–127

Statement of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله (597 AH)​

He said that some people interpret istawā as istawlà and cite poetic lines, but this interpretation is rejected by linguists. Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: the Arabs do not know istawā in the meaning of istawlà. Moreover, istīlāʾ is used when someone was previously not in control and then became in control—whereas Allah has always had power over all things.

Reference: Zād al-Masīr: 3/213

He further notes that the cited poetic lines are not reliably attributed.

Statement of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله on Those Lines​

لم يثبت نقل صحيح أنه شعر عربي... إنه بيت مصنوع، لا يعرف في اللغة.

“No authentic transmission is established that it is Arabic poetry… Rather, it is a fabricated line not known in the language.”

Reference: Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā: 5/146

Statement of Imām Abū ʿUmar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh Ṭulmanakī رحمه الله​

He explained that Ahl al-Sunnah affirm the reality of Allah’s istiwāʾ over the Throne without metaphor, and refuted the claim that shared naming necessitates resemblance. He argued that resemblance occurs through realities and forms, not merely shared words; otherwise everything would resemble everything.

Reference: al-ʿIlm by al-Dhahabī: 264

Statement of Imām al-Aʾimmah Ibn Khuzaymah رحمه الله (311 AH)​

He affirmed Allah’s istiwāʾ over the Throne, being above it and above everything, and rejected the Jahmiyyah who say “He dominated” instead of “He rose,” comparing their alteration to the Israelites being told to say ḥiṭṭah but saying something else.

Reference: Kitāb al-Tawḥīd: 1/231–233

Statement of Imām Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله (463 AH) on “Istawlā”​

He stated that the verses are clear in refuting the Muʿtazilah. Their claim of metaphor and interpretation of istawā as istawlà is meaningless, because it is not apparent in the language; and istīlāʾ implies struggle for dominance, while no one can overcome Allah, and none can be above Him.

Reference: al-Tamhīd: 7/132

Statement of Imām Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī رحمه الله (324 AH)​

He mentioned that the Muʿtazilah, Jahmiyyah, and Ḥarūriyyah interpret “al-Raḥmān ʿalā al-ʿArsh istawā” as domination and claim Allah is everywhere, denying Allah’s istiwāʾ over the Throne as the people of truth affirm, and interpreting it as mere power.

Reference: al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah: 14

Statement of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī رحمه الله (561 AH)​

He affirmed that Allah is above, established over the Throne, encompassing the dominion, and that describing Him as being in every place is not permissible. Rather, it is said: Allah is in the heavens upon the Throne as He stated, and the attribute of istiwāʾ is affirmed without interpretation and without asking how.

Reference: Ghunyat al-Ṭālibīn: 1/54–57

Refuting a Munkar Report Attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما​

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله explained that a report narrated with weak and unknown narrators, attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما claiming that Allah is over all creation yet no place is empty of Him, is munkar, and its narrators are weak and unknown. He then cited the verse about Pharaoh seeking to reach the “God of Moses,” indicating that Moses عليه السلام said his Lord is above.

Reference: al-Tamhīd: 7/132

Statement of Imām Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād رحمه الله (228 AH)​

من شبه الله بشيء من خلقه، فقد كفر، ومن أنكر ما وصف الله به نفسه، ورسوله فقد كفر، وليس فيما وصف الله به نفسه ولا رسوله تشبيه.

“Whoever likens Allah to anything from His creation has disbelieved; whoever denies what Allah described Himself with and what His Messenger ﷺ described Him with has disbelieved. There is no resemblance in what Allah described Himself with, nor what His Messenger described Him with.”

Reference: Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir: 62/163

(chain ḥasan)

Comment of Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī رحمه الله​

He said this speech is true, and sought refuge from tashbīh and from denying the authentic narrations of the attributes. He explained that after affirming them, there are two blameworthy extremes: (1) interpreting them away from their apparent intended meaning; and (2) exaggerating in affirming them by imagining them like human attributes. Rather, the attributes follow the One described, and since Allah is unseen and has said, “There is nothing like unto Him”, there is no scope to speak of how.

Reference: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 10/611–612