𝙄𝙗𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙮𝙢𝙞𝙮𝙮𝙖’𝙨 (𝙙.728𝘼𝙃) 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮...

𝙄𝙗𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙮𝙢𝙞𝙮𝙮𝙖’𝙨 (𝙙.728𝘼𝙃) 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙡-𝙉𝙖𝙨𝙖’𝙞’𝙨 (𝙙.303𝘼𝙃) 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙝 𝙖𝙯 𝙕𝙪𝙠𝙝𝙧𝙪𝙛: 13-14 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 (𝙄𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙬𝙖) 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙡:

Al-Nasa’i in his ‘Sunan’ narrates three hadiths in relation to Surah Fussilat, with the subheading verse 11: thumma istawa ila al-samaa’ (Then He istiwa toward the heaven.”
[See 10/245 Al-Risalah Edition]:

The first narration is of the slave girl and “Where is Allah?”

The second narration is the Prophet’s mounting (istawa) his camel to set out on a journey and reciting the Quranic verse:

“Glory be to the One who subjected this to us, and we were not able to control it ourselves, and surely to our Lord we will return.”
[az Zukhruf: 13-14]

The third narration is:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“I was helped by the east wind (al saba), and Aad were destroyed by the west wind (al dabur).”

We can see from the third and final narration that Al-Nasa’i is alluding to more than just verse 11 and Istiwa, as the third narration actually correlates to verse 16 of Surah Fussilat and the winds destroying Aad.

This has all been discussed previously in another thread explaining why it’s not necessarily the case that Al-Nasai mentioned narration number two for defining Allah’s Istiwa by using the hadith that begins with mounting/istiwa a camel.

In this thread we will look at Ibn Taymiyyah and see how he also mentions faith, Surah az Zukhruf: 13-14 and Istiwa.
We see that his mention of Surah az Zukhruf: 13-14 and the mounting/istiwa of animals has nothing to do theologically with Allah’s Istiwa, but rather is part of the broader subject of faith.

Ibn Taymiyya mentions the Arab polytheists and mentions the same Quranic verse that the hadith with mounting the camel has:

And He is the One who created all pairs, and made for you from the ships and the cattle that which you ride, so that you may sit upright (li-tastawu)
upon their backs, then remember your Lord’s favor when you have sat upright (istawaytum) upon them, and say: ‘Glory be to the One who has subjected this to us, and we could not have mastered it; and indeed we shall surely return to our Lord.’” (az-Zukhruf 9–14).

Then Ibn Taymiyya mentions the verse:

And the Most High said:
“Say: To whom belongs the earth and whoever is in it, if you know? They will say: ‘To Allah.’ Say: Will you not then remember? Say: Who is the Lord of the seven heavens and the Lord of the Mighty Throne (al-arsh)?
They will say: ‘Allah.’” (al-Mu’minun 84–87).

After mentioning around 10 verses about ascribing parters to Allah
Ibn Taymiyya then mentions the verse:

Allah is the One who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, then He istawa over the Throne.
You have no protector or intercessor besides Him. Will you not then remember? (al-Sajdah 4)

[Ibn Taymiyya’s ‘Kitab al-iman’ p.65-66 al-Albani Al-Maktab al-Islami, Amman Edition]

We see from the above that the Quranic verse which mentions istiwa (mounting) the animals, and the corresponding hadith that Al-Nasa’i narrated that included this verse, don’t tie into the subject matter because they mention Istiwa on an animal/camel.
Rather, the relevance of mentioning that hadith is the the Quranic verse it cites and it’s message:

‘Glory be to the One who has subjected this to us, and we could not have mastered it; and indeed we shall surely return to our Lord.’” (al-Zukhruf 13–14)

Ibn Taymiyya demonstrated how this verse ties to the greater theme of faith, monotheism and ascribing partners to Allah, rather than being fixated around the word Istawa and its definition.

This gives us some insight into Al-Nasa’i’s mentioning of the three hadiths of:
Istawa of Allah being above the throne, the hadith mentioning the Quranic verses from (al-Zukhruf 13–14) and the hadith about Aad being destroyed by winds.

Note: The grammarian Abu Ubaydah Maʿmar Ibn al-Muthanna al-Taymi al-Basri (d.209 AH) mentioned:

“The Most Merciful Istiwa over the Throne”
Meaning: He rose.
It is said: istawaytu fawqa al-dabbah (istiwa/mounting the riding animal), wa ‘ala al-ba‘ir (upon the camel), wa ‘ala al-jabal (upon the mountain), and fawqa al-bayt (above the house) meaning: I rose above it and over it.

[See his ‘Majaz al-Quran’ 2/15 Muhammad Fuad Sezgin Cairo Edition]

The above are just examples of usage of the word Istiwa in the human language.

None of the early scholars ever explicitly used the Istiwa/mounting of an animal or any other creation to theologically define Allah’s Istiwa.
Ibn Taymiyya (a later scholar) does use the Istiwa/mounting an animal/camel to theologically define Allah’s Istiwa in some of his works.
Yet we have seen above in this article how even he (Ibn Taymiyya) not only acknowledged, but applied the verses of Istiwa/mounting the animal to not relate to Istiwa specifically, but the greater theme of faith in general.

@mahmud_murrah

Would you say the above is cope and reaching from Ibn Taymiyyah too?

Would you still insist none of it had to do with the greater schematic theme but rather just fixated on defining the word Istiwa?