In the previous post the first part of a verse described as an example of ‘kufr and heresy’ in Qasidah al-Burdah by the Wahhabis of Islam QA was discussed. This was their translation:
3. This world and the Hereafter are part of what you control, and part of your knowledge is the knowledge of al-Lawh al-Mahfooz and the Pen
وَمِنْ عُلُوْمِكَ عِلْمُ اللَّوْحِ وَالْقَلَمِ
“and part of your knowledge is the knowledge of al-Lawh al-Mahfooz and the Pen“
This verse has been explained below through the commentary of the following major Imams not one of whom considered the verse heresy or kufr!
1. Imam Muhammad Abu al-Su`ud al-Hanafi (d. 951),
2. Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Mustafa al-Hanafi, known as Shaykh Zadah (d. 951),
3. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami al-Shafi`i (d. 973),
4. Mulla `Ali al-Qari al-Hanafi (d. 1014) whose commentary is by far the most interesting,
5. `Allama Ibrahim al-Bajuri al-Shafi`i (d. 1277), and
6. Imam Muhammad al-Tahir Ibn `Ashur al-Maliki (d. 1284).
The translation is that of Dr. GF Haddad who adds:
Some of the above excelled their respective contemporaries in the Arabic language and they excelled also in fiqh and usul, while Ibn `Ashur and Abu al-Su`ud were arguably the two greatest mufassirs of the last five hundred years.
1. Abu al-Su`ud:
“Knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen (in the sense of what is written on the Tablet through the coursing of the Pen) is some of what your knowledge flows through / has thorough access to [ba`du mimma jara fihi `ilmuk].”
As quoted in Sayyid Hasan al-`Idwi al-Hamzawi al-Maliki’s (d. 1303) al-Nafahat al-Shadhiliyya fi Sharhi al-Burdat al-Busiriyya (Damascus photocopy of the Cairene ed. of the Nafahat p. 204).
2. Shaykh Zadah:
“It may be that Allah Most High showed him, upon him blessings and peace, all that is in the Tablet, and increased him on top of that also, because the Tablet and the Pen are created, so what is in them has a limit, and it is possible for the limited to encompass the limited. This is according to your understanding [O reader]. As for him whose heart’s eye has been dyed with the kohl of Divine light, he witnesses through spiritual taste that the sciences of the Tablet and the Pen are a portion (juz’) of his sciences, upon him blessings and peace, just as they are a portion of the knowledge of Allah Most High.”
Shaykh Zadah’s Hashiyat al-Burda in the margin of al-Kharputi’s `Asidat al-Shuhda Sharh Qasidat al-Burda (Ottoman 1320 ed. p. 219).
3. Al-Haytami:
“And of your sciences is the knowledge of the tablet and the pen, that is: Of some of your vast learning (ay: ba`di ma`arifika) which Allah Most High gifted you. […] And the sense in which knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen is part of some of his sciences, upon him blessings and peace, is that on the night of Isra’, Allah Most High showed him everything that is in the Preserved Tablet and added to that other types of knowledge, such as the secrets which pertain to His Essence and Attributes, may He be exalted!”
Al-Haytami, al-`Umda fi Sharh al-Burda, ed. Bassam Muhammad Barud (UAE: Dar al-Faqih, 2003, p. 666-669).
4. Al-Qari:
“Min is tab`idiyya […]. The commentators have said conflicting things on the second hemistich of the verse. It was said that ‘al-`ilm’ is a substantive which is in construct with its subject (masdar mudaf ila fa`ilihi), that is: the Tablet and the Pen’s knowledge of things, but then we need to say that they possess perception and feelings toward what was attributed to them. It was also said that ‘al-`ilm’ is in construct with its object, that is: the people’s knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen, but then we need to say that there are different positions here. It was also said that Allah Most High showed him, upon him blessings and peace, what the Pen had written in the Preserved Tablet, which is the knowledge of the first and the last, and this is the preponderant explanation (wa-huwa al-az.har). To clarify further, what is meant by the knowledge of the Tablet is what was entered into it among other transcendent writs and shrouded images (al-nuqush al-qudsiyya wal-suwar al-ghaybiyya). What is meant by the knowledge of the Pen is what was entered with it into the Tablet as Allah Most High wished, so the construct implies the nearest connection (al-idafatu li-adna mulabasa). The fact that the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen is part of his sciences consists in that his sciences are multifarious, including universals and particulars, hidden matters and minutiae, subtle wisdoms and arcane sciences pertaining to the Essence and the Attributes, whereas the science of the Tablet and the Pen are only a few lines (sut.ur) among the lines of his knowledge and a mere river from the seas of his knowledge. Then, in addition to this, it is from the blessing of his existence according to the report that was said to be transmitted: ‘The first thing Allah created is my light,’ that is, He looked at it with a gaze of majesty, so it cleaved in two, and from its two halves were created the two worlds. This [light] is what is meant by the Pen, hence the transmitted report: ‘The first thing Allah created is the Pen,’ so there is no contradiction. The upshot is: this world and the next are aftereffects (aathaar) of your existence and generosity, and whatever appeared out of the Pen and onto the Tablet is from the secrets of your wisdoms and the lights of your sciences.”
Al-Qari, al-Zubda fi Sharh al-Burda, ms. from the Damascus library of the Musnid Sayyid Muhammad Salih al-Khatib (also containing al-Qari’s two treatises on the Mawlid), folios 54b-55a.
5. Al-Bajuri:
“His saying ‘fa-inna min judika al-dunya etc.’ […] min is for tab`eed. […] ‘Wa-min’ in his saying ‘wa-min `ulumika’ is for tab`eed also […] meaning the informations Allah Most High showed him, for He, Most High, showed him the sciences of the first and the last. […] {The problem was raised that part of ‘the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen’ are the five things mentioned at the end of Surat Luqman although the Prophet, salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Sallam, does not know them for Allah Most High reserved their knowledge for Himself alone, so the aforementioned tab`eed is incomplete? It was replied that it is not granted that those five things are among what the Pen wrote on the Tablet, or else whoever is entitled to look into the Tablet, such as some of the muqarrabin angels, would have seen them; and even if it were granted that they are part of what the Pen wrote into the Tablet, what would be meant is that some of his sciences, upon him blessings and peace, are the science of the Pen and the Tablet which a creature may look upon, thus excluding those five matters} [curly-bracketed material is largely from al-Qastallani], although the Prophet, salla Allahu `alayhi wa-Sallam, did not leave this world except after Allah Most High did inform him of those matters. If it is asked: Since the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen are some of his sciences, upon him blessings and peace, then what is the rest? The reply is, the rest is [to say the least] what Allah Most High informed him of with regard to the states of the hereafter, because the Pen only wrote into the Tablet what was going to happen until the Day of Resurrection and nothing more, as already mentioned in the hadith [‘The first thing Allah created was the Pen, and He told it to write, so it said, What shall I write? He said: Write the apportionments of every living thing until the Hour rises’ al-Tirmidhi (sahih) and Ahmad].”
Al-Bajuri, Sharh al-Burda (`Abd al-Rahman Mahmud Cairo ed. p. 132-133).
6. Ibn `Ashur:
“The meaning is: how could your great standing diminish for advocating me, whereas you are the noblest of all creatures in the sight of your Lord Who gave you exclusively the magnificent special attributes that show your rank before Him, among which, that He created this world and the next for your sake, and also among which, that He taught you what no one else encompasses by their knowledge, to the point that what is in the Tablet and the Pen is some (ba`d) of your sciences.”
Ibn `Ashur in `Umar `Abd Allah Kamil’s al-Balsam al-Murih min Shifa’ al-Qalb al-Jarih, the epitome of Ibn `Ashur’s Shifa’ al-Qalb al-Jarih fi Sharhi Burdati al-Madih (Beirut: Bisan, 2004, p. 164-165).
Let the readers decide for themselves who is correct? The Wahhabis of today or the Imams of Ahl al-Sunna…..
Wahhabis Refuted 
Assalamu alykum, this is excellent work Alhamdulillah, the problem with salafis is they pass through the texts very fast and declare kufr and apply verses of kufr to the believers.. There intelligence is like a stubborn donkey that refuses to move and listen!
Heres a small example.. A salafi walks past a park, there is a huge statue of some known ruler and trees are around it, he while walking sees a Muslim with a beard a white thobe on the ground in a position of sujood.. He recognises the man, the imam! He gets shocked and runs and tells his shaykh ‘i saw imam so and so bowing to a statue!!’ the salafi shaykh says! This is kufrr! So they spread the news..
Now, Before judging someone you go and ask them what and why that happened saying give me your understanding your reply ie to the imam. In reality that imam had dropped his keys in a gutter and had his right hand with a wire trying to pull out the keys hence the posture position towards the statue not worshipping or prostrating to it.. This is the part the idiot salafi didnt understand and went to his imam and spread his ‘own understanding’ of it and he declared kufr and spread it..
This is happening similar in there refutations they do not want to understand and hear the reply with ‘understanding of there opposition’ then go ahead and apply there ‘understanding’ on others forcefullt which is baatil and lies! and declare kufr shirk bi’dah to muslims and in reality they have declared kufr bid’ah shirk to the great scholars of the ummah. Thickoooos!!!!
Honestly! I have seen salafis do this myself. It is so clear in there lectures that they believe the questioner and declare there verdict beforwe verifying it! They even accusing each other by the twisted hatred and ignorance of the questioner, there shaykh being more ignorant for not veryfing it..They do not care about your explanation, they believe so much that there opposition believes what they accuse them off, i have spoken to a few, they care only to go through there scholars thats it.. There scholars say sit they sit stand they stand jump in the well they will do it.. Fetch boy fetch they will fetch Lol this is deep ignorance and mentality of the khwarij. There is a verse in the Qur’an they should ponder!
Qur’an 49:6
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
Shakir
O you who believe! if an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you have done.
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Imam Shihab al-Din Al-Qastallani in Mashariq al-Anwar Al-Mudriyyah:
‘If you say: Your words “The Knowledge in the Tablet and the Pen is some of his knowledge” are problematic because Allah Most High has recorded in the Tablet the knowledge of the events that includes the Five which Allah Most High exclusively knows, as in the Sahih from his words (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) “No one knows them except Allah”; thus, since the Prophet and the rest of creation do now know these Five, how then is it possible for these to be included amongst his knowledge? Therefore, what is necessarily meant by the Tablet ant the Pen in his words is the genus of tablets and pens on which reaction record their knowledge.
The reply is: We do not accept hat these Five are amongst those things recorded in the Preserved Tablet; for if they were included amongst those things those things recorded therein, then some of the angels brought nigh, who have access to what is in the Preserved Tablet, would have access to them. Even if it is conceded that they are therein and that Allah has not disclosed them to anyone, even if they are in it, then the meaning is ‘your knowledge includes the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen which creation has access to’.
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