A Comparative Study of the Indication of Divine “Establishment (Istiwāʾ) upon the Throneˮ toward Transcendence (Tanzīh) or Corporealism (Tajsīm) in Both Schools' Sources (Farīqayn), Emphasizing Hadiths in Al-Kāfī and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student in Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Iran.

2 Assistant professor in the Department of Quranic and Hadith Studies, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Iran.

Abstract

Literalism, in its literal interpretation of certain Qurʾānic expressions—including "establishment (istiwāʾ) upon the Throne"—leads to a form of corporealism (tajsīm) concerning God, which, in a rational and hermeneutical analysis, is incompatible with divine monotheism (tawḥīd) in its various dimensions. Islamic schools typically cite hadith sources to justify their doctrinal foundations. Thus, the question becomes whether these documentary evidences sufficiently support their claims or not. In this regard, a comparative study of the sources of the two major schools (al-farīqayn—Shīʿī and Sunnī), which constitute the primary fronts of the transcendence (tanzīh) and anthropomorphic (tashbīh) positions, yields better results in determining the prevailing orientation of Islamic sources and provides a suitable verification of the extent to which hadiths support the theological claim: Do the hadith sources provide sufficient support for the corporealist (tajsīmī) perspective? Employing library-based research and a comparative-analytical method, this article seeks to verify, through a comparative examination of the indication of the hadiths from these authoritative books concerning "establishment upon the Throne," whether they support transcendence (tanzīh) or corporealism (tajsīm) perspectives. The findings indicate that these hadiths, either directly or indirectly, indicate transcendence (tanzīh) rather than corporealism (tajsīm), and corporealist interpretations in both sources have been subject to opposition.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

The Noble Qurʾān.
Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd al-Muʿtazilī. (1363 SH [1984 CE]). Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāgha (Commentary on the Peak of Eloquence). Qom: Maktabat Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī. [In Arabic]
Ibn al-Athīr, Majd al-Dīn. (1389 AH [1969–1970 CE]). Jāmiʿ al-Uṣūl fī Aḥādīth al-Rasūl (The Compendium of Foundations concerning the Traditions of the Messenger). Maktabat Dār al-Bayān. [In Arabic]
Ibn Taymīya al-Ḥarrānī, Taqī al-Dīn. (1420 AH [1999–2000 CE]). Al-ʿAqīda al-Wāsiṭīya (The Wāsiṭī Creed). Riyadh: Aḍwāʾ al-Salaf. [In Arabic]
Ibn Taymīya al-Ḥarrānī, Taqī al-Dīn. (1408 AH [1987–1988 CE]). Al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā (The Great Fatwās). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīya. [In Arabic]
Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (1416 AH [1995–1996 CE]). Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (The Musnad of Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal). Muʾassasat al-Risāla. [In Arabic]
Ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī, Abū al-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar. (1419 AH [1998–1999 CE]). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (Exegesis of the Magnificent Qurʾān). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīya. [In Arabic]
Ibn Muṭahhar, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf (ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī). (1417 AH [1996–1997 CE]). Kashf al-Murād fī Sharḥ Tajrīd al-Iʿtiqād (The Unveiling of the Intended in Commentary on the Purification of Belief). Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī. [In Arabic]
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1414 AH [1993–1994 CE]). Lisān al-ʿArab (The Tongue of the Arabs). Beirut: Dār al-Bayrūt. [In Arabic]
Ālūsī, Shihāb al-Dīn. (1415 AH [1994–1995 CE]). Rūḥ al-Maʿānī (The Spirit of Meanings). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīya. [In Arabic]
al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl. (1422 AH [2001–2002 CE]). Al-Jāmiʿ al-Musnad al-Ṣaḥīḥ (The Authentic Collection). Dār Ṭawq al-Najāt. [In Arabic]
Barāk, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. (1429 AH [2008 CE]). Sharḥ al-ʿAqīda al-Ṭaḥāwīya (Commentary on al-Ṭaḥāwī's Creed). Dār al-Tadmurīya. [In Arabic]
Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim. (1416 AH [1995–1996 CE]). Tafsīr al-Burhān (The Exegesis of the Proof). Tehran: Bunyād-i Biʿthat. [In Arabic]
Bahrāmī, Ḥamza ʿAlī. (1397 SH [2018 CE]). "Taḥlīl-i Taṭbīqī-yi Istawāʾ ʿalā al-ʿArsh dar Andīsha-yi Māturīdīyān wa Salafīyān bā Taʾkīd bar Dīdgāh-i Ibn Taymīya" (A Comparative Analysis of 'Establishment upon the Throne' in the Thought of the Māturīdīs and Salafīs with Emphasis on Ibn Taymīya's Perspective). Pizhūhishnāma-yi Madhāhib-i Islāmī (Journal of Islamic Sects), 5(9). [In Persian]
Bayāt Mukhtārī, Mahdī. (1390 SH [2011 CE]). "ʿArsh-i Khudā wa Tafāvut-i Ān bā Kūrsī" (The Throne of God and Its Difference from the Footstool). Taḥqīqāt-i ʿUlūm-i Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth (Qurʾānic and Hadith Studies Research), 8(2). [In Persian]
Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. (1379 SH [2000 CE]). Tafsīr-i Tasnīm (Tasnīm Exegesis). Qom: Intishārāt-i Asrāʾ. [In Persian]
al-Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1404 AH [1983–1984 CE]). Ṣiḥāḥ al-Lugha (The Correct [Book] of Language). Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāyīn. [In Arabic]
al-Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī ibn Jumʿa. (1383 AH [1963–1964 CE]). Tafsīr Nūr al-Thaqalayn (The Exegesis of the Light of the Two Weighty Things). Qom: Muʾassasa-yi Maṭbūʿātī-yi Ismāʿīlīyān. [In Arabic]
al-Rāzī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar (Fakhr al-Dīn). (1420 AH [1999–2000 CE]). Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (The Keys to the Unseen). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (1412 AH [1991–1992 CE]). Mufradāt al-Rāghib (al-Rāghib's Vocabulary). Beirut: Dār al-Shāmīya. [In Arabic]
Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad. (1410 AH [1989–1990 CE]). Tafsīr al-Manār (The Manār Exegesis). Al-Hayʾa al-Miṣrīya al-ʿĀmma li-l-Kitāb. [In Arabic]
Zāda Bāmrī, Murtaḍā. (1403 SH [2024 CE]). Barrasī-yi Taṭbīqī-yi Ḥaqīqat-i ʿArsh wa Kūrsī az Manẓar-i ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī wa Maktab-i ʿIrfānī-yi Ibn al-ʿArabī (A Comparative Study of the Reality of the Throne and Footstool from the Perspective of ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī and Ibn al-ʿArabī's Mystical School). Razavi University of Islamic Sciences. [In Persian]
al-Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿAmr. (1407 AH [1986–1987 CE]). Al-Kashshāf ʿan Ḥaqāʾiq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl (The Revealer of the Realities of the Obscurities of Revelation). Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (1391 SH [2012 CE]). Sīmā-yi ʿAqāʾid-i Shīʿa (The Features of Shīʿī Beliefs), translated by Muḥaddithī. Tehran: Nashr-i Mashʿar. [In Persian]
al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1432 AH [2011 CE]). Al-Durr al-Manthūr (The Scattered Pearls). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (Ibn Bābawayh al-Qummī). (1398 AH [1977–1978 CE]). Al-Tawḥīd (Monotheism). Qom: Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn. [In Arabic]
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1363 SH [1984 CE]). Tafsīr al-Mīzān (The Balance Exegesis), translated by Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir Hamadānī. Qom: Daftar-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī. [In Persian translation]
al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl ibn al-Ḥasan. (1338 SH [1959 CE]). Majmaʿ al-Bayān (The Gathering of Elucidation). Tehran: Maktabat al-ʿIlmīya. [In Arabic]
al-ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1379 AH [1959–1960 CE]). Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (The Victory of the Creator: Commentary on the Authentic Collection of al-Bukhārī). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa. [In Arabic]
Ghanīmān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad. (1405 AH [1984–1985 CE]). Sharḥ Kitāb al-Tawḥīd min Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Commentary on the Book of Monotheism from the Authentic Collection of al-Bukhārī). Medina: Maktabat al-Dār. [In Arabic]
al-Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. (1383 SH [2004 CE]). Al-ʿAyn (The Book of ʿAyn). Qom: Intishārāt-i Uswa. [In Arabic]
Fayḍ Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin. (1406 AH [1985–1986 CE]). Al-Wāfī (The Complete). Isfahan: Maktabat Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī (AS). [In Arabic]
al-Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (1396 SH [2017 CE]). Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr (The Luminous Lamp). Qom: Ṭalīʿa-yi Nūr. [In Arabic]
Qureshī, Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar. (1371 SH [1992 CE]). Qāmūs-i Qurʾān (The Qurʾānic Dictionary). Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīya. [In Persian]
al-Qasṭallānī, Aḥmad. (1323 AH [1905–1906 CE]). Irshād al-Sārī ilā Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Guidance of the Traveler to the Commentary on the Authentic Collection of al-Bukhārī). Egypt: Al-Maṭbaʿa al-Kubrā al-Amīrīya. [In Arabic]
al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. (1393 SH [2014 CE]). Al-Kāfī (The Sufficient). Qom: Dār al-Thaqalayn. [In Arabic]
Māzandarānī, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad. (1342 SH [1963 CE]). Sharḥ al-Uṣūl wa-l-Rawḍa (Commentary on the Principles and the Garden). Tehran: Al-Maktaba al-Islāmīya. [In Arabic]
al-Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Nuʿmān (al-Shaykh al-Mufīd). (1368 SH [1989 CE]). Taṣḥīḥ Iʿtiqādāt al-Imāmīya (Correction of the Imāmī Doctrines). Qom: Intishārāt-i Kungira-yi Shaykh al-Mufīd. [In Arabic]
al-Nasāʾī, Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb. (1406 AH [1985–1986 CE]). Al-Sunan al-Ṣughrā li-l-Nasāʾī (The Minor Traditions of al-Nasāʾī). Aleppo: Maktab al-Maṭbūʿāt al-Islāmīya. [In Arabic]

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics