al-Nasiha fi Sifat al-Rabb Jalla wa Ala
- Author died
- 711 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktab al-Islāmī
al-Nasiha fi Sifat al-Rabb Jalla wa Ala (Sincere Counsel Concerning the Attributes of the Lord, Exalted and High) is a short creedal epistle by the Shafi'i scholar and Sufi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Wasiti, commonly known as Ibn Shaykh al-Hizamayn (d. 711 AH / 1311 CE), devoted to affirming the divine attributes according to the methodology of the early Muslims (Salaf).
Background and Motivation
Al-Wasiti addressed the treatise as a sincere counsel to his close religious companions. In his introduction, he recounts having endured a long period of spiritual and intellectual perplexity over three central theological disputes: the divine attributes (al-sifat), divine aboveness and highness (al-fawqiyya and al-uluww), and the presence of letters and sound (al-harf wa-l-sawt) in the Quran.
He describes being conflicted between the plain text of scriptural evidence and the theological manuals of his contemporary teachers among the Shafi'i Ash'aris, from whom he had acquired his legal education. While he held deep respect for their learning, their figurative interpretations (ta'wil)—such as glossing God's ascension over the Throne (al-istiwa') as conquest or domination (al-istila'), divine descent (al-nuzul) as the descent of His decree, and the Hands as two blessings or powers—caused him internal discomfort and spiritual unease. Examining the Quran and prophetic traditions, he found abundant explicit statements affirming these attributes without any accompanying warnings from the Prophet ﷺ directing the audience away from their apparent meanings. Al-Wasiti wrote the epistle after arriving at a resolution that brought him spiritual conviction.
Content and Theological Arguments
The treatise systematically examines three principal issues:
- Divine High Altitude and Ascension (al-Uluww and al-Istiwa'): Al-Wasiti explains that God existed in pre-eternity prior to the creation of space, the Throne, or physical directions. When the contingent cosmos was brought into being, divine majesty necessitated that the Creator be above His creation and distinct from it (ba'in min khalqihi), as it is rationally and scripturally impossible for the Eternal to indwell in or intermix with created things. Human pointing toward the upward direction in prayer and supplication is dictated by the nature of created existence, without implying that God is encompassed or delimited by physical boundaries.
- The Divine Attributes: Al-Wasiti addresses the Ash'ari theologians by pointing out an inconsistency in their methodology. He notes that both sides agree on affirming the seven fundamental attributes—Life, Knowledge, Hearing, Sight, Power, Will, and Speech—without understanding them as physical accidents (a'rad) subsisting in limbs. By the same reasoning, he argues that attributes such as the Face, Hands, al-istiwa', and al-nuzul must be affirmed as real attributes (haqa'iq) befitting divine majesty, without interpreting them as physical organs (jawarih) or resorting to figurative reinterpretation and negation (ta'til). He summarizes the believer's stance as being "seeing from one aspect and blind from another: seeing in terms of affirmation and existence, and blind in terms of modality (al-takyif) and delimitation (al-tahdid)."
- Letters and Sound (al-Harf wa-l-Sawt): The author affirms that God spoke the Quran with letters and with a voice that is heard, as reported in scriptural texts, without requiring physical vocal cords, throats, or uvulas. He upholds the historical stance of the early scholars who barred declaring one's recitation of the Quran to be either created or uncreated, in order to prevent confusion and theological error.
Spiritual Significance and Reception
Al-Wasiti emphasizes the spiritual fruits of this creed, writing that recognizing God as being above the heavens and over His Throne provides the worshiper's heart with a firm orientation (qibla) during prayer, contemplation, and supplication. Without this awareness, the soul remains disoriented and deprived of the spiritual illumination experienced by the foremost of the close servants of God.
The text has been published in modern editions, including one edited by Zuhayr al-Shawish and printed by al-Maktab al-Islami.
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