Do Salafis take literal meaning of the Quran?

[AllahkaBanda]

As-Salamu 'Alaykum

I’ll try m best to maintain the good adab and ikhlaq but if my response seems harsh then know by Allah that it is due to my gheerah for the correct teaching of the deen. Let’s start from repeating myself again

@Nussairee
brother, please don’t attack us with straw man or put words in our mouth. Where did I say or Ahlus Sunnah affirm that we take the Qur’an literally? This is what I said in answer to your question in the first post:

no the people of Ahlus Sunnah (salafi) don’t take literal meaning of every ayah of the Qur’aan. We understand it how the Messenger of Allah (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam) has taught us and how the Salaf understood it. Just because we believe and take Sifaat of Allah upon **their dahir (apparent) **meaning, which is what we suppose to do as explained by the Sunnah and athar of the Salaf, doesn’t mean we do the same for all other matters.

there is a different between the arabic word “dahir” and “haqiqi”. I then further clarified this:

We affirm and believe in what Allah Ta’ala has said about Himself in the Qur’aan, what His Prophet, Muhammad (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam - peace and blessings be upon him), said about Him and how the Salaf (May Allah be pleased with them) understood His Sifaat without taw’il (interpreting their meanings into different), tashbih (giving resemblance or similarity in any specific creatures), ta’til (completely ignoring or denying them), tafweed (tawfid - to relegate the meanings) and takeef (takif - asking how)

Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an (interpretation of the meaning):There is nothing like unto Him and He is all Hearing, the Seeing [Surah ash-Shura:11]
Do you know of any similarity to Him? [Surah Maryam:65]
Nor is thee to Him any equivalence [Surah al-Ikhlas:4]
Why do you and everyone else keep ignoraing it and randomly attacking with straw man? Why does everyone keep ignoring my simple questions? Why did you all ignore the statment of Imam Trimidhi (rahimahullah)? Let me quote it for you again:

It has been stated by more than one person from the People of Knowledge about such ahaadeeth, that there is no tashbeeh (resemblance) to the Attributes of Allah, and our Lord - the Blessed and Most High - descends to the lowest heaven every night. So they say: "Affirm these narrations, have Imaan (faith) in them, do not deny them, nor ask how." The likes of this has been related from Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan ath-Thawri, Ibn Uyainah and Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, who all said about such ahaadeeth: “Leave them as they are, without asking how.” Such is the saying of the People of Knowledge from the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah. However, the Jahmiyyah oppose these narrations and say: This is tashbeeh! However, Allah the Most High, has mentioned in various places in His Book, the Attribute of al-Yad (Hand), as-Sama’ (Hearing), and al-Basr (Seeing) - but the Jahmiyyah make ta’weel of these ayaat, explaining them in a way, other than how they are explained by the People of Knowledge. They say: Indeed, Allah did not create Aadam with His own Hand - they say that Hand means the Power of Allah. [Imam Trimdhi’s Sunan - Vol 1, pg 128-129]

Why don’t you all call him a “heretic wahabi mujasmi (anthropomorphists)”? The famous statement of Imam Malik ibn Anas, Sufyahn ath-Thawri, ibn Uyainah and Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah be pleased with them) is well known by the people of knowledge. Why do the heretics reject the statments of these Salaf Imams? Yet, they claim they’re following the Salaf!

I didn’t quote any of the Salaf and numerous other evidences 1) it would make my response lengthy 2) it is heavy stuff for all of you 3) the blind followers would reject it anyway

@righteous

Then you are agreeing that you are not taking literally but how Salaaf interpreted the Quran, the literal and the figurative?

yes and no

1 - Yes, we interprete the Qur’an how the Salf did so
2 - No, the Salaf didn’t interprete the Qur’an dahri or majazi out of their desires; they did so because it is the appearent (dahir) meaning of the ayaat and the ahadith.

@MAKRANI

So Allah according to sunni belief has eyes, ears, mouth, legs, hands, eats and drinks. Basically resembles human being except he is supreme right?

show me one text I quoted or my statement, which proves the emphasized part and says or imply that Allah Ta’ala resembles His creation. brother, did you even read what I said?

@MAKRANI

WOW!!!

Muslims are fighting for 1400 years as to offer prayer with hands on the chest or straight down and we don’t even know that we have a lot bigger problem on our hands. We have not even understood our creator.

and who told you that Muslims are fighting over this issue for 1400 years? this is such trivial fiqhi issue and let’s not discuss it here

@hareem01

No one can completely understand God nor we need to completely understand Him in order to believe in Him.

and no one can deny what He has said about Himself! No one is talking about tashbih or takeef, we negate it and nor we do taw’il and tafwid.

@diwana

People are discussing what they just cannot. Trying to understand the physical ‘nature’ of creator is not even the part of religious teachings.

We’re simply discussing what Allah Ta’ala has said about Himself. How can you say that it is not part of our teachings? brother, Tawheed as-sama’ was-Sifaat is a pillar of tawheed! If you think it is trivial and useless, then you can ask Allah Ta’ala on the the day of judgement that why did He say about Himself in the Qur’an what He has said! Ask the same question to the Messenger of Allah (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam) and the Salaf

@diwana

What is proscribed may be discussed. But why try to spend time in discussing something no brain power can understand.

this is extacly what I’ve done so far; discuss what has been told to us in the Qur’an, the Sahih Sunnah and athar of the Salaf.

@diwana

Allah has chosen to use some words to make earthly people to understand something and we are beating up on literal meaning of words like hand, eyes, legs!

Allah didn’t use those words randomly, those words are His Attributes

@diwana

One thing comes to my mind and I need to add:

**What if someone really believes on these words literally as Allah having body parts and then decides to draw even a mental picture of him let alone draw on a piece of paper???
Would that even be allowed?
**

what you’ve concluded is kufr and blasphemy; another attack with straw man. I’ve already responded above

@diwana

If he says he is close to jugular vein or he has eyes or hands, all seem to be metaphorical rather than literal.

@diwana

However there is absolutely no need to try to make a person change his mind if the person wants to take these words literally or metaphorically.

I’m simply trying to present the creed of Ahlus Sunnah and not forcing it upon someone.

@FrozenFire

listen dude.. how dare you even said such disgusting stuff about our Lord, our Mohsin, our Khaliq, our designer, our Allah?.. Allah in your toilet?.. nauzubillah?.. is this the proper Islamic way of telling other of ur belief?

this tells me brother, you didn’t even bother reading what I was actually saying. I was responding to other brother with a set of logical questions according to His belief.

@FrozenFire

If people like him who believe Allah has eyes,ears,legs..are not doing shirk?.. i wonder wat is the definition of ‘shirk’?

Allah unlike humans does not have ears,eyes,legs.. He is immortal. What difference would it be between u and christians who take Jesus AS as their Lord who had eyes,ears,legs etc?.. are they not doing shirk?.. so are you.

first, I’ve already clarified the first part like 5 times. It is not my fault if you people don’t read and simply attack us with straw man. anyone who resembles to Allah Ta’ala to His creation or deny His Attributes is denying the Qur’an and the ahadith. Shirk means associating any partner in worhsip with Allah Ta’ala. It doesn’t mean what you’re trying to imply with your straw man argument.

@psyah
Jazak Allah khayr for clarifying the Athari position brother. I do agree with you that laymen shouldn’t dwell into this issue deepl without having any knowledge. However, it is important to know and affirm and believe in what Allah Ta’ala has said about Himself. If you think it is useless then you’re simply insulting the ayaat of Allah, the Sunnah of the Rasoul (sal-allahu 'alayhi wa salam) and the jihad of the Salaf against the people of bid’ah. The Ash’ari and the Maturidi creed is clearly contradict the creed of Ahlus Sunnah, the Athari creed. How can you say that we should or can reconile between the three?