Friday, August 16, 2013

Allah Has Two Feet

A Muslim recently contacted the Fatwa site Islam QA and asked whether Allah has two feet or one foot. He wrote:

I am a seeker of knowledge and I am confused: do we affirm that Allah has two feet, as is mentioned in the mawqoof hadeeth the isnaad of which ends with Ibn ‘Abbaas, “The kursiy (foot stool) is the place of the feet”? Or do we affirm that Allah has one foot, as it says in the hadeeth: “… until the Lord of Glory places His foot in it (Hell)” (or, according to another report, “… His foot on it…”)?

The scholars of Islam QA correctly reply that, according to Islam, Allah has two feet:

Praise be to Allah.

One of the confirmed attributes of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the foot.

The evidence for that is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (6661) and Muslim (2848) from Anas ibn Maalik, according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Hell will keep saying, ‘Are there any more (to come)?’ until the Lord of Glory, may He be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it, then it will say, ‘Enough, enough, by Your glory!’ And all its parts will be integrated together.

Al-Bukhaari (4850) and Muslim (2847) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Hell and Paradise disputed, and Hell said: ‘I have been favoured with the arrogant and proud.’ Paradise said: ‘What is the matter with me, that no one will enter me except the weak, humble and downtrodden?’ Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, said to Paradise: ‘You are My mercy by which I will show mercy to whomsoever I will of My slaves.’ And He said to Hell: ‘You are My punishment with which I will punish whomsoever I will of My slaves. And each of you will be full.’ As for Hell, it will not be full until Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it and it says, ‘Enough, enough.’ Then it will be full and all its parts will be integrated together, and Allah will not treat any of His creation unjustly. As for Paradise, Allah will create a creation just for it.”

This indicates that it is confirmed that Allah, may He be exalted, has a foot.

Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Kursiy (foot stool) is the place of the two feet, and the size of Throne cannot be known.”

This was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah in at-Tawheed, 1/248, no. 154; Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-‘Arsh, 61; ad-Daarimi in ar-Radd ‘ala al-Muraysi; ‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in as-Sunnah; and al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak, 2/282 – he classed it as saheeh according to the conditions of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim), and adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. It was also classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Mukhtasar al-‘Uluw, p. 102; and by Ahmad Shaakir in ‘Umdat at-Tafseer, 2/163.

Abu Moosa al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Kursiy is the place for the two feet, and it creaks as a saddle creaks.

Narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in as-Sunnah; Ibn Abu Shaybah in al-‘Arsh, 60; and by Ibn Jareer, al-Bayhaqi and others. Its isnaad was classed as saheeh in al-Fath, 8/47 and by al-Albaani in Mukhtasar al-‘Uluw, p. 123-124

These two reports confirm that Allah, may He be exalted, has two feet, and this is the belief of Ahl as-Sunnah.

Imam Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qaasim ibn Salaam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: These hadeeths which say that our Lord smiles at the despair of His slaves when things will soon change, and that Hell will not be filled until your Lord places His foot on it, and that the Kursiy is the place for the two feet – these hadeeths, as narrated, are true in our opinion; they were narrated from trustworthy narrators to other trustworthy narrators. But if we are asked about their meaning, we do not explain them, and we have never seen any scholar discuss their meanings.

Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma’ wa’s-Sifaat, 2/198; Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in at-Tamheed, 7/149

In Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (2/376) it says: What we must do is affirm that which Allah has affirmed for Himself, such as two hands, two feet, fingers and other attributes that are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah, in a manner that is befitting to Allah, may He be glorified, without distorting the meaning, discussing how, likening Him to His creation or denying any of His attributes, because He, may He be glorified, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)): "He is Allah, (the) One.

Allah-us-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks).

He begets not, nor was He begotten;

And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.”

[al-Ikhlaas 112:1-3]

“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”

[ash-Shoora 42:11].

So we take these (attributes) as true in a real sense, not metaphorical. As for going to extremes in affirming attributes that are not mentioned in the Qur’an or sunnah, we have to refrain from doing so. (Continue Reading.)

Hope that clears things up for those of you who were wondering how many feet Allah has. For more on Allah's body, see the following video by Anthony Rogers:

29 comments:

RyanS said...


Well David, im glad you finally gave this story some legs...

RyanS said...


Im waiting for a seasoned Muslim debater to go toe to toe with you on this.

Anonymous said...

always a copy of the real God.. and a very bad one at that:
1Ch 28:2 Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
2Ch 9:18 And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays:
Psa 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
Psa 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Psa 132:7 We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool.
Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Lam 2:1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Mar 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Luk 20:43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Act 2:35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Jas 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

Radical Moderate said...

But the real questions is Does Allah have a left foot, or are both his feet Right feet?

Timothy said...

Is Allah circumcised ? And who did when and why and how and with what tool?

Anthony Rogers said...

I smell "DeFeet".

sla said...

Hi David

Islamqa.info is a Salafi website , you cant quote them and come to a conclusion that Muslims have a anthropomorphic concept of God .It will be like Muslims quoting Mormons and coming to a conclusion that the whole of Christianity has the same position .

The Salfis believe that God has hands and feet which are unlike humans . This is completely rejected by all other Muslim scholars .

Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal,one of the influential scholar of Sunnis has to say this ..." Whoever says that God is a body , even if conditioned upon unlike other bodies , has disbelieved " , Tasneef Al Musaami ,vol 4,page 684

Imam Muhammad Ibn Badrudeen .."God does not resemble anything,and nothing resembles him.And whoever says that he resembles anything among his creation has disbelieved.", Mukthasar al ifaadaat, page.490

I can just go on and on but however i close my case with a verse from the Quran itself..."There is nothing whatsoever like unot him " Sura 42 verse 11.

sla said...

Hi Anthony Rogers

See this link for a scholarly discussion on the short comings in your video .

http://www.seekingilm.com/archives/1238

David Wood said...

Sla,

Salafis are called "Salafis" because they adhere to the interpretations of the "Salaf" (the first three generations of Muslims). They do this in order to keep their religion pure and uncorrupted from later reinterpretations (especially reinterpretations based on Western ideas). But you've just called them heretics. So the first three generations of Muslims, according to you, were heretical. Your prophet, however, said that the first three generations of Muslims were the best generations of Muslims. Hence, your prophet approved of heretics.

Nice religion you've got there.

Anthony Rogers said...

Sla,

The video you referenced is poor indeed.

If you want an actual schoalarly treatment of Ibn Hanbal's teachings, go read the following:

http://drwesleywilliams.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/IJMESNewSingle4124646_OCR.8184727.pdf

Radical Moderate said...

Sla so Salafi's are not Muslims?

Are you a Takferi?

Unknown said...

I told someone earlier that islam is a bad copy of the truth found in the bible. The Koran can only be the work of an illiterate and plagiarist mohammed. It is evident that the whole Koran is a mish-mash of borrowed ideas?
Thank God my good friend who used to be a devout muslim has given his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluyah!

sla said...

Hi Anthony

I have read the article in the journal before , it builds its case upon 'Kitab Al Sunna' , which is now considered by All Sunni Muslim scholars to be a forgery ascribed to Imam Ibn Hambal.

They reject them on the following grounds ..
1) Chain of transmissions are incomplete and weak in most cases,

2) They contradict more authentic sayings coming from reliable sources.

Anthony Rogers said...

Sla,

As you can imagine I am singularly unimpressed that "all Sunni Muslim scholars" have (allegedly) agreed to tell each other and their followers that Kitab al-Sunna was not written by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. But even if their collective denial of Ibn Hanbal's Kitab al-Sunna is something we should join them in, that hardly comes anywhere close to dealing with a lot of what the article draws upon, much of which is uncontested even by Sunni Muslims who have an axe to grind. Because of this I find it hard to believe you have actually read the article, but if you say you have then I can only assume your memory must be weak when you pretend that it all comes down to the authenticity of that one book, and therefore that it's contents can all be dismissed because your scholars told you that the book that contradicts your brand of Sunni Islam is a forgery. Perhaps you should consider reading the article again to refresh your memory on all that you have since forgotten.

goethechosemercy said...

Quote:
Praise be to Allah.

One of the confirmed attributes of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the foot.
end

I'm sure you mean the foot that steps on and crushes non-Muslims.
Islam is profane.

Jama said...

wonderful information thanks Antoney please for the next time would please show the information you put in the screen in a dark or white background so that its is to READ thx

Baron Eddie said...

How come they don't ask about Allah's two right hands!

I thought Islam teaches that humans were made in the image of Allah!

Why do we have left hand?

Anonymous said...

Why do you ask so anonymous questions?

Deleting said...

Rukiah said, "Why do you ask so anonymous questions?"


R-E-A-D before you post!!!!! This statement makes no sense probably because you were on an ipad or iphone and misspelled a word.

Either that or you had auto-correct turned on your computer.

der prophet said...

Would you please give the exact refrence of the hadith for Alah's lions??? You forgot to put it in the video >> this one


Narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: “Alah created the creation and upon finishing , the RAHIM(womb) got up and took hold of the LIONS of Al Rahaman(i.e the merciful Allah). Allah said to it “what is wrong?” The womb said “ I seek refuge with you from Al Qateeha,( that is the one who serves the ties of the family) Alah said, would you be pleased if I bestow my favours on him who keeps your ties and withholds My favor from he who severs your ties? The womb responded, “certainly Oh Lord” Allah said “that is granted”. Abu Hurayrah said “ If you want you can recite ( the verse). Would then if given authority, do mischief in the land and cut the ties of kinship (arhamuukum) Sura 47:22

zackzack said...

https://youtu.be/mlLZKUuc2jk

zackzack said...

Do you know all profits cam with more than hundred name of Allah all together 900 and the top the 100 =1000 name the name Allah is master of all name s Allah not mail or female have no hands or legs or place or time Allah makes everything so Allah don't looks like everything

zackzack said...

,He is Allah, one (the lain) he or she ,Allah and nobody . He or she is apseluot absent with complete representative by the name s and adjectives (1000 name s) . The name Allah is the posse all the names . Nobody is not caind of anything creatures

zackzack said...

Allah elsamad have no desire or needs but solid nothing effect or change whoever's make the changes

zackzack said...

If the eye main able to see so the eye of bee or cat . the God con not compared with what did created
So the God use world's to make us understand hand or leg equal powerful and con able not fiscal hands or legs

zackzack said...

The throne is place as Haven is place ,hill place name throne is not look like the chair is under the throne ,the piredais under the chair
The skies under piredais so the throne is name of place not looks like in your mind

ruffus said...

God is one (absolute) and He is different from anyone", God like this loses his definition and all his personality traits. It is empty of the same substance unity. People will be confused and ask: "What is one?" Or "One unit of what?" Isn't He no "one" from that? He is just a blank oneness! Even if there is "one", then surely there is He who is limited by the "edge" (contour) which causes him to count one in it.

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