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G.F. Haddād on Imām al-Dhahabī and the Phrase Bi

Dhātihī
Also from the talbīs of the Jahmiyyah is their twisting the words of
Imām al-Dhahabī in relation to the phrase bi dhātihīī (with His essence).

One of the ru'ūs (heads) of the contemporary Jahmiyyah called Gibril F.

Haddād1339 in attempting to peddle the doctrine of the Jahmiyyah of old
wrote a short tract called "The Innovated Phrase 'In Person'", regarding
the use of the words "bi nafsihī" and "bi dhātihī". From the talbīs of this
Jahmite is that he rendered these phrases into English as "in person",
so that when he quoted the usage of this phrase from the statements of
the Scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah it would enable him to force the minds
of the dumb-witted and ignoramuses amongst his own audience to
think of the worst possible meaning. The word dhāt refers to essence
and nafs refers to self, however he did not use these appropriate
translations, and this type of conniving is found in much of this
Jahmite's polemics and writings. Although Ibn Taymiyyah was his
target, in reality, he intends the Imāms of the Salaf from the first four
centuries of Islām, since it is not the actual usage of these words per se
which is the issue as much as what is intended by them by the Scholars
in relation to al-ʿUluww.

We have already cited from the early Kullābiyyah, their affirmation of

al-ʿuluww for Allāh the Most High, and they also explicitly used the
phrases dhātuhu and nafsihī, and this is found from al-Hārith al-
Muhāsibī, as was quoted from him earlier:

As for His saying, "He ascended over the Throne..." and "He is al-
Qahir, above His servants...", and "Do you feel secure that He who is
over the heaven...", and "...then they would certainly have sought
out a way to the Lord of the Throne..." then these and other verses
like, "To him does the goodly word ascend...", and His saying,
"Then it (the affair) will go up (yarʿuju) to Him...", then this is
definitive, it necessitates that He is above the Throne, above all
things, purified and absolved of entering into His creation, there is
nothing from His creation hidden to Him at all. [This is] because He

1339
Gibrīl F. Haddād has a long history of mistranslation, distortion, clipping,
twisting which would take volumes to document, however, the reader should
take note of the nature in which G.F. Haddād puts out his poison through the
example illustrated here, for all the rest of his polemical writings against Ahl
al-Sunnah take on the same form.

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explained in these verses that His essence (dhātahu), with His self
(bi nafsihī) is above His servants, because He said, "Do you feel
secure that He, Who is over (fī) the heaven, will not cause the earth
to sink with you...", meaning, [He who is] above the Throne, and
the Throne is over the heaven, because whoever is above
something, over the heaven, then he is [said to be] "fis-samā",
[meaning] over the heaven.1340

And the other Kullābiyyah Ashʿariyyah, even if the usage of bi dhātihī

and bi nafsihī has not reached us in what is preserved from them, they
were upon the belief that Allāh Himself is exalted above the Throne,
above the heavens, in addition to the exaltedness of status, rank, and
power. Imām al-Dhahabī quotes1341 from Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī al-
Mālikī:

And that He, the Exalted is above His Glorious Throne, with His
essence (bi dhātihi) and that He is in every place with His
knowledge.

And then comments upon this:

And the likes of this phrase has preceded from Abu Jaʿfar Ibn Abī
Shaybah and Uthmān bin Saʿīd ad-Dārimī, and likewise Yahyā bin
ʿAmmār, the preacher of Sijistān, used it in his Risālah, and also the
Hāfidh, Abu Nasr al-Wā'ilī al-Sijzī in his book al-Ibānah1342, for he
said, " Our Imāms like Sufyān ath-Thawrī (d. 157H), Mālik (d. 179H),
Hammād bin Salamah (d. 167H), Hammād bin Zayd (d. 179H),
Sufyān bin Uyainah (d. 197H), al-Fudayl (bin ʿIyād) (d. 187H), Ibn al-
Mubārak (d. 181H), Ahmad (d. 241H), and Ishāq (d. 238H) are agreed
that Allāh is above the Throne bi dhātihi (with His essence) and His
knowledge is in every place." And likewise Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr as will
follow, and likewise the phrase of Shaikh al-Islaam Abu Ismāʿīl al-
Ansārī who said, "And in many diverse reports [there occurs] that
Allāh is above the seventh heaven, above the Throne with His self
(bi nafsihī)". And likewise al-Hasan al-Kurjī ash-Shāfiʿī who said in
this poem, "Their belief is that Allāh is over the Throne with His
Essence (bi dhātihī), with His knowledge of [all] the unseen". And
upon this poem is written, in the handwriting of al-Allāmah Taqī
ad-Dīn bin al-Salāh, "This is the belief of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-
Jamāʿah". And likewise this phrase was used by Ahmad bin Thābit

1340
See Fahm al-Qurʾān of al-Muhāsibī (pp. 346-355).
1341
Refer to Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww (al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1991), pp. 255-
256.
1342
Referring to what has been quoted above.

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at-Turkee, the hāfidh. And Shaykh Abdul Qādir al-Jīlī (or Jīlānī), and
the muftī ʿAbd al-Azīz al-Qahītī and a group (of scholars)... And
what Ibn Abī Zayd and the others meant (by this) was to distinguish
between His being with us and His Being above the Throne. So He ,
as He said, is with us in knowledge, and that He is over the Throne,
as he informed us when He said, "The Most-Merficul ascended
(istawā') over the Throne." And a group of the People of Knowledge
spoke the aforementioned word (bi dhaatihi), as has preceded, but
without doubt, to leave superfluous speech is from the better part
of Islām.

And the intent of al-Dhahabī is that as the revealed texts are so

apparent, manifest and clear in their meaning, that it is Allāh himself
who is above the Throne, above the heavens, and this being
immediately understood to anyone who understands the language of
the Qurʾān and of the Arabs, without their being any doubt whatsoever
in this, then the use of the phrase bi dhātihī is superfluous and not
needed. And the Jahmiyyah already know the position of al-Dhahabī in
that he affirms that Allāh is above the Throne, above the heavens, for
he would not have compiled the book al-ʿUluww if he did not hold this
as his belief.

Al-Dhahabī also comments upon the statement of Yahyā bin ʿAmmār (d.
422H) who also used the phrase bi dhātihī:

We do not say as the Jahmiyyah say that Allāh is inside places and
is merged with everything and that we do not know where He is.
Rather, we say: He is, with His essence (bi dhātihī) above the
Throne, and His knowledge encompasses everything. 1343

With the following remark:

I say: Your saying bi dhātihī is from your kays (subtlety,

intelligence), and it has a good interpretation (mahmal hasan), but
there is no requirement for it because the one who interprets
istawā' says that He subdued (qahara) with His essence (bi dhātihī)
and that He conquered (istatwlā bi dhātihī) without any aider or
assistance.

The Jahmite Gibril F. Haddād translated this word kays (intelligence,

shrewdness) as "bag" (which is kīs), and implied that al-Dhahabī was
addressing Yahyā bin ʿAmmār in a derogatory way, stating, "This

1343
Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww (al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1991), p. 263.

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(meaning the use of the phrase bi dhātihī) is from your own bag", in
other words you've pulled it out of your own bag, from your own
invention. But al-Dhahabī is saying that whilst this is from your
perspicacity in using this phrase in order to distinguish truth from
falsehood, itis redundant and not necessary. In the above statement al-
Dhahabī goes on to explain that those whom you (Yahyā bin ʿAmmār)
are refuting by saying bi dhātihī, they themselves used the word bi
dhātihī when making their false taʾwīl (figurative explanation) of istawā'
(ascended) to istawlā' (conquered) and qahara (subdued), hence your
usage of it is redundant. This is what al-Dhahabī means and this is
proven further, when al-Dhahabī makes a similar remark upon the
saying of Abu Nasr al-Sijzī a little later in the book1344:

Our Imāms like Sufyān ath-Thawrī (d. 157H), Mālik (d. 179H),
Hammād bin Salamah (d. 167H), Hammād bin Zayd (d. 179H),
Sufyān bin Uyainah (d. 197H), al-Fudayl (bin ʿIyād) (d. 187H), Ibn al-
Mubārak (d. 181H), Ahmad (d. 241H), and Ishāq (d. 238H) are agreed
that Allāh is above the Throne bi dhātihi (with His essence) and His
knowledge is in every place. And that He descends to the lowest
heaven, that He becomes angry, and becomes pleased and speaks
with whatever He wills.

So al-Dhahabi remarked on this:

I say: This which he has quoted from them is well-known and

preserved, except for the phrase bi dhātihi, for this is from his
subtlety, intelligence (kaysihī), he attributed it to them in terms of
meaning in order to distinguish between the Throne and what is
besides it of the [various] places.1345

1344
Refer to Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww (al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1991), p. 267.
1345
Here, al-Dhahabī explains the purpose and reason for using this phrase
which is to rebut the arguments of the Jahmiyyah and Muʾtazilah who
fabricated sayings such as the Throne is just a metaphor for the creation, and
it means Allāh is loftier than the creation in rank, status and the likes of these
taʾwīls by which they sought to obliterate the belief of Allāh's ʿuluww (with His
essence) from the hearts of the people, and the reason for this is because they
believe that if it is said about something in the creation that it is above that it is
in direction, which necessitates place (makān) which necessitates it being a
body (jismiyyah). And these necessities that apply to the creation also apply to
speech regarding the creator - and upon this false analogy - they denied that it
can be said that Allāh is above His creation. And they need for this rejection
was because this belief in all the revealed Books and in the speech of all the
sent Messengers clashes with their false and corrupt proof for demonstrating

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Al-Dhahabī is alluding to the intent of al-Sijzī in invalidating the taʾwīl

of the Jahmiyyah and Muʿtazilah in their saying that Allāh conquered,
dominated the creation, so he specified the Throne with al-istiwā, by
saying bi dhātihī. It is clear that al-Dhahabī is explaining why the Salaf
used this word and explains this to be from their perspicacity, given
the context, in order to preserve the meaning of truth, even if he
himself disapproves of the word and considers it redundant. Indeed al-
Dhahabī commented upon the statement of Hammād bin Zayd, "They
(the Jahmiyyah) are circulating around [the issue of] wanting to say
that there is no deity above the heaven" with the following words:

I say: the saying of the Salaf and the Imāms of the Sunnah, indeed,
that of the Companions, and of Allāh, His Messenger and the
Believers is that Allāh, the Mighty and Majestic is above the
heaven, and that Allāh is over the Throne, and that Allāh is above
His seven heavens, and that He descends to the lowest heaven, and
their proof for that (lies in) the texts and the narrations. And the
saying of the Jahmites: That Allāh, the Blessed and Exalted, is in all
places, lofty and exalted is Allāh from their saying. Rather, he is
with us wherever we may be with His knowledge [and not with His
essence]. And the saying of the later Mutakallimūn (theologians):
That Allāh is not above the heaven, and nor over His Throne, and
nor over the heavens, and nor on the earth, and nor inside the
universe and nor outside the universe and nor is He separate and
distinct from His creation and nor connected to them. They said:
All of these things are the attributes of bodies (ajsām), and Allāh is
far above [being a] body. So Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Athar said to them:
We do not delve into that, and we say what we have mentioned [of
Allāh being above the Throne] following the (revealed) texts (in
that), and even if you claim [what you claim]... we do not speak
with your saying. For these attributes of negation [you use] are
[but] the qualities of the non-existent. Exalted is Allāh, the Mighty

the universe is created which they took from the Sabean star and idol-
worshipping pagan disbelievers who used the language of ajsām (bodies) and
aʿrāḍ (incidental attributes) to devise such a proof and it was taken from them
by al-Jaʿd bin Dirham, then the Jahmiyyah, then the Muʿtazilah, and the
Ashʾarites are in reality following the uṣūl of the Jahmiyyah and Muʿtazilah in
this regard, and it is why they are united with the Jahmiyyah, Muʿtazilah, and
disbelievers like Ibn Sīnā, to whom they are supposed to be enemies, in
opposing Ahl al-Sunnah in this and other issues pertaining to belief in Allāh,
the Exalted.

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and Majestic from non-existence. Rather, He exists, distinguished

from His creation, described with whatever He described Himself
with, [namely] that He is above the Throne, without how (kayf).
Hammād bin Zayd was to the Iraqis the same as what Imām Mālik
was to the Hijāzīs in loftiness and knowledge.1346

Thus, it is established that the Jahmites do not take al-Dhahabī's

disapproval of the phrase bi dhātihī and use it except out of the greatest
of conniving, treachery and dishonesty. Al-Dhahabī continued to write,
after his comment on the phrase bi dhātihī:1347

Ibn Abī Zayd and others intended to distinguish between Allāh, the
Exalted being with us, and between His, the Exalted, being above
the Throne. And so it just as he said, that Allāh is with us in
knowledge, and that He is above the Throne where He says, "The
Most Merciful ascended over the Throne" (20:5). And a group from
the Scholars have spoken with this verse as we have already
[mentioned] previously, and without doubt, leaving superfluous
speech is from the good part of Islām. And Ibn Abī Zayd was from
the Scholars residing in al-Maghrib (Morocco), and he was titled,
Mālik al-Saghīr (the Small Mālik), and he was skilled in the
knowledge of the usūl (foundations). Al-Hāfidh Ibn ʿAsākir
mentioned him in the book Tabyīn Kadhib al-Muftarī Fīma Nusiba ilā
al-Ashʿarī, but he did not mention his death (date). He died in 386H
and it has been said 389H. And they showed hostility to him for his
saying bi dhātihī, so if only he had left it.

And the intent of al-Dhahabī is that had Ibn Abī Zayd not used this
expression, he would not have been subject to hostility. In another
place, al-Dhahabī says:1348

We have mentioned that there is no need for the phrase bi dhātihī

(with His essence) and it disturbs the souls, to leave it is more
befitting and Allāh knows best.

Al-Dhahabī considers it is better to leave off using this word, not that
the underlying meaning intended by this phrase is false and rejected as
has been imagined by the Jahmiyyah. And this will become even more
clear when we address another of the doubts of the Jahmites regarding
al-Dhahabī's authoring of this book in particular.

1346
Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww (al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1991), p. 146.
1347
Mukhtasar al-ʿUluww (al-Maktab al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1991), p. 255-256.
1348
Al-Siyar (19/607).

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Regarding al-Dhahabi's Authoring of the Book al-ʿUluww

Also from the talbīs of the contemporary Jahmiyyah is their attempt to
cast doubt upon al-Dhahabī's authorship of his book al-ʿUluww lil-ʿAliyy
il-Ghaffār. They have sought to discredit this book of al-Dhahabī by
claiming he disavowed the book at the end of his life. They depend on a
quote from Ibn Nāsir ad-Dīn ad-Dimashqī, who was one of the scribes
for one of the available manuscripts. Ad-Dimashqī writes:

The author - ‫ رمحه هللا‬- said, in what I found with his own handwriting
in the margin to the draft copy (al-muswaddah): "Completed in the
year 698H, although there are ahādīth within it whose weakness
has become apparent to me, and sayings of various factions who
took liberties in expression. I neither agree with them regarding
those expressions, nor do I blindly follow them, and may Allāh
forgive them. I do not hold fast to any matter except what the
masses have united upon, and this do I take as my religion, and
know that Allāh, there is nothing which is a likeness unto Him."

Compare this translation with that of one of the neo-Jahmites, Gibril F.

Haddād, who tried to cast doubt upon the work of al-Dhahabī 1349
through this speech. And the answer to this is as follows:

Firstly, there is nothing in the speech, from near or far, which

indicates al-Dhahabī's recantation, remorse or regret for compiling the
book, and this insinuation is from the lies and slanders of the
contemporary Jahmiyyah against this noble Imām.

Secondly, this Jahmite should not pretend to have not read the very
first page of al-ʿUluww, wherein al-Dhahabī writes, after praising and

1349
Gibril F. Haddād, and he is from the ru'ūs (heads) of the contemporary
Jahmiyyah, wrote, under a heading "Tampering of the Salafis", under the sub-
heading "al-Dhahabi", the following:
Now, if it was a "most excellent work" then why did al-Dhahabi
disclaim it later in his adult career (he wrote the book as a young
man)? He wrote on its manuscript with his own hand: "I have
realized it [this book] contains baseless narrations and statements
by many people that spoke loosely, and so I neither subscribe to
those expressions nor follow those people in them - may Allah
forgive them - nor do I consider them binding upon me as long as I
live, and this is my firm conviction, and I know that Allah - there is
nothing whatsoever like Him."

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extolling Allāh, the Most High, and sending prayers and salutations
upon the Prophet (), the following explanation:

To proceed: In the year 698H I compiled ahādīth (Prophetic

narrations) and āthār (reports) regarding the issue of al-ʿUluww, I
missed the opportunity to comment upon some of them, and I did
cover fully what was reported regarding that... So now (in this
work), I will organize all of it and clarify it here ...

This shows that al-Dhahabī wrote a draft of the book in the early part
of his life (at the age of twenty-five), and did not give full attention to
the veracity of the ahādīth and āthār and some expressions in the
speech of those whom he quoted. Thus, he may have changed his views
on the authenticity of some of the ahādīth and āthār when composing
that early draft - not that he regretted compiling such as work,
otherwise he would not be writing the above lines!

Thirdly, in the 1420H, Dar al-Watan, print of al-ʿUluww, the verifier,

Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh bin Sālih al-Barrāk depended upon a total of nine
manuscripts in publishing his edition. In his introduction he explains
that seven of these manuscripts all agree indicating they are derived
from a single issuance (of the original), with one of them being an
abridged version (mukhtasar). And the remaining two agree upon a
separate issuance. He explains that al-Dhahābī had two stages in
authoring al-ʿUluww. The first in his earlier years, when he compiled a
draft copy which he may have titled Kitāb al-ʿArsh or al-ʿArshiyyah. This
was at the age of twenty-five years, in 698H. Then after a period, he
returned to this draft, inspected it, added to it, organized the
statements according to the tabaqāt of the Scholars, and re-issued it
and spread it with the name al-ʿUluww. Al-Barrāk proceeds to
strengthen this explanation by demonstrating al-Dhahabī's weakening
of certain āhādīth and āthār which he authenticated in the earlier
draft. And al-Barrāk explains that Ibn Nāsir ad-Dīn ad-Dimashqī came
across both versions, the draft copy and the later complete version,
and thus made mention of what al-Dhahabī wrote on the draft copy
without relying upon it in his own manuscript, rather he depended
upon the later, complete version.

Fourthly, and finally, it is clear that al-Dhahabī did not show remorse
for writing the book, rather he merely indicated that in its earlier draft
form it was lacking. Thus, he came back to complete the book,

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indicating his great concern for this subject, and the best way this can
be demonstrated is by quoting his final words in the book:

I (al-Dhahabī) say: Yes, this is what the deniers of the ʿUluww

(highness) of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, have depended upon.
And they turned away from the requirement of the Book, the
Sunnah, the sayings of the Salaf and the innate dispositions of the
whole of creation. What they claim to be necessitated (from
affirming Allāh's highness) is only applicable to created bodies. Yet
there is nothing like Allāh and the necessities arising from the clear
and evident texts (of the Book and the Sunnah) are also true.
However, we do not make use of any expression except one that
comes through a narration.

In addition to this we say: We do not accept that the Creator's being

upon His Throne and above the heavens, necessitates that He is
confined (in space) and in a direction, since whatever is below the
Throne is said to be confined (in space) and in direction. However,
what is above the Throne is not like that. And Allāh is above the
Throne as the very first generation are unanimously agreed upon
and as the Imāms after them have quoted from them. They said this
in refutation of the Jahmiyyah, those who said that He is in every
place seeking as a proof His saying, 'And He is with you...' So these
are the two sayings which were present in the time of the Tābiʿīn
and their successors who came after them. And they are the two
sayings that can be understood in the statement.

As for the third saying which arose later which is that "Allāh the
Most High is not in any of the places, nor outside of them, nor
above His Throne, not attached (merged) with His creation, nor
separate from it, nor is His essence (dhāt) confined in space, nor is
He separate and distinct from His creation, nor is He in any of the
directions, nor is He exempt from of any of the directions, and nor
this and nor that", then this is something that cannot be
comprehended nor understood, along with the fact that within it is
opposition to the verses (of the Book) and the narrations (from the
Salaf). Therefore flee with your religion and beware of the opinions
of the Mutakallimūn (Theologians). Believe in Allāh and what has
come from Him upon the desired intent of Allāh, then submit your
affair to Him and there is no power nor movement except by Allāh.
The book is completed and all praise is to Allāh alone.

Thus, is the way of Ahl ul-Bidʿah exposed, they are not able to establish
their doctrines through revealed texts upon the understanding of the
Righteous Salaf or of the Imāms of the Muslims in the first four

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centuries after hirah (before 400H), and have to resort to twisting the
sayings of the Scholars, lying upon them and trying to deceive the
people at large.

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